- Nick Ball retains world title in thriller with Sam Goodman
- Fans believe scores were much closer than judges had it
Sam Goodman’s audacious crack at a boxing world title has been shot down by English champion Nick Ball in a 12-round Saudi Arabian thriller.
The Australian (20-1) was beaten for the first time on Sunday (AEST), after moving up a division in an attempt to snatch the WBA featherweight belt.
All three judges favoured Ball’s power over Goodman’s ring craft – scores were 117-111, 118-110, 115-113 – in an eyebrow-raising margin that didn’t reflect the even nature of the fight.
Goodman looked frustrated by the bizarre scorecard and many on social media were also left scratching their heads.
‘They robbed Goodman. He outboxed Ball’ posted one X user.
‘Two of those cards were very disrespectful, Goodman was well in that fight,’ posted another.
Sam Goodman’s crack at a boxing world title has been shot down by English champ Nick Ball
All three judges favoured Ball’s power over Goodman’s ring craft
‘Bulls**t!’ posted Goodman’s promoter George Rose.
Saudi promoter Turki Al-Sheikh wrote on X: ‘I thought Sam Goodman did fantastic in his fight with Nick Ball. He showed a lot of skill and the rounds were close. I would love to see more of him on future Riyadh Season and Ring Magazine cards.’
Ball, England’s only current male boxing world champion, improved to 23-0-1 with the win in the support to Moses Itauma and Dillian Whyte’s heavyweight headline act in Riyadh.
‘I’m still a world champ but it wasn’t the best performance of mine, the main thing is we got the job done,’ Ball said in the ring following the bout.
‘I got hit too much, most of it was on the gloves but I’ll have to watch it back.
‘I want to keep fighting and improving, being in with the big names in other title fights is the main thing.’
The 26-year-old Australian has moved up from super bantamweight – a difference of about three kilograms – chasing an unlikely, overdue title shot.
After spending two years as mandatory, Goodman was scheduled to meet Japanese pound-for-pound king Naoya Inoue in a Tokyo title fight last year.
Ball improved to 23-0-1 with the win over the Australian
A bad cut above his eye in sparring delayed it and when the cut reopened Goodman was forced to withdraw, and give up the $1 million payday.
A 10-month layoff was required before he beat Cesar Vaca in May and then jumped at the chance to move up and challenge Ball.
