Sam Goodman out to keep that winning feeling on Harry Garside title card

It had less to do with the victory - a sixth-round stoppage of 36-win Filipino veteran Richie Mepranum - and more about the standards he's holding himself to in his push at a world title.

It was pleasing enough to the eye but, having not fought at his preferred super bantamweight (55kg) in almost two years, the 23-year-old subjected every part of it to rigorous scrutiny.

"I know what I'm capable of and I thought it was pretty lacklustre [compared to] what I'd been doing," Goodman said.

"It was the first time I'd done that weight in over a year. I made the weight really well but rehydrating I probably could have done a bit slower and smarter.

"I thought that process affected me through the day but it's all a learning process. It was a win and you always take a rough win over a loss where you think you'd done enough.

"I won the fight and got what I wanted, a [world] ranking, and I got him out of there. I did my job but it was pretty lacklustre."

Th critical eye and determination to tick every box goes a long way to explaining why many good judges feel he can be a world champion.

For his part, the Albion Park slugger gears every second to that goal.

"It's the standards I set myself, if I have a bad sparring session I'm filthy," he said.

"I'm a student of the game and I want my sparring to be dominant. I want to win absolutely everything. Every moment I'm in the ring I want to be dominant and I want to be winning.

"In training if we're doing partner work, in sparring and in the fight I want to dominate. Winning's a habit and it's something I try to do each and every session."

He'll look to stay in that habit in his next outing, a defence of his newly-won WBO Oriental strap against 11-1 Japanese Fumiya Fuse on April 6.

Read more: Goodman and the mad bunch take over The Star

The fight card at the Hordern Pavilion will be headlined by Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Harry Garside, who'll fight for the Australian lightweight title in just his second pro bout.

Fellow Tokyo Olympian Paulo Aokuso will also make his highly-anticipated pro debut, while highly-rated super middleweight Jayde Mitchell (20-2) will end a hiatus from the ring.

Goodman has linked with Garside for quality sparring in the build-up, confident the preparation will bring out the best in both of them come fight night.

"It's great sparring. We've been linking up the last two weeks and we'll continue that through camp," Goodman said.

"He's a good southpaw, he's a bigger body so it's top rounds.

''When you're in with people of a good quality you're just going to get better from it.

"We're going to be helping each other out and getting plenty of rounds in and I'm happy just to get consistency and get rolling with a few fights.

"What Harry's done is pretty enormous. It's a very hard thing to do to go overseas and medal.

''He's travelled and done that and he deserves to headline a card.

"Hopefully not too far into the future I can be headlining these types of shows myself."

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