One out of two ain't bad. That's the best Japanese slugger Fumiya Fuse can hope for according to Wollongong world title prospect Sam Goodman.
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Goodman will put his recently-won WBO Oriental strap on the line, and look to add the IBF Intercontinental bauble to his mantle, when he shares the ring with the tough 11-1 southpaw in Newcastle on Wednesday night.
Fighting out of Tokyo, Fuse told Monday's press conference that he came to Australia with two ambitions; to sink his teeth into a cut of prime Australian beef, and to upset Goodman on the undercard to Paul Gallen's Australian heavyweight title showdown with Melbournian Kris Terzievski.
The first goal may well be within reach, but Goodman says his opponent has bitten off more than he can chew when it comes to the latter.
"He's going to cop a hiding first before he gets to taste some beef," Goodman said.
"I hope he presents a challenge and gets in there and has a go, but I'm going to render him useless, take all the things he does well away from him and dismantle him.
"We've prepared well again, I'm confident in what I can go out and do. I'm going to do a job on this man and move onto the next one, simple as that."
Goodman and Fuse came in comfortably at the 55-kilo limit for their super-bantamweight showdown, with Goodman looking to go top 10 in the rankings with two major sanctioning bodies.
He's eyeing grander prizes in the long term, but the fact the IBF Intercontinental strap once adorned the waist of Northern Irish legend, and two-weight world champion, Carl Frampton is an indication of where it can lead.
"The [WBO] belt I'm defending got me a top 15 [ranking] after the last fight and winning this IBF Intercontinental belt could put me in the top 10 with the IBF," he said.
"Guys like Carl Frampton have won it so it's a prestigious belt. The fight before fought for his first world title he was defending his IBF Intercontinental title.
"That shows the calibre of fighters that have fought for this title and what it can lead to. I'm still a while off in terms of getting to that top echelon, I know that, but it's another progression and that's all I'm looking to do.
"It still takes a while to push through those rankings so I know how long it's going to take me. It's a process, but I'm learning all the little things I need to fine-tune to get me to that stage.
"I want to keep building and building and fly through these rankings and, before you know it, I'll be in that world-title picture. This guy in front of me is trying to stop that so I've got to take him out."
As always, Goodman will have the Albion Park 'mad bunch' in tow, the rowdy throng having stolen the show in his last outing - a sixth-round stoppage of tough Filipino Richie Mepranum in Sydney last December.
"They're always going to rock up, they're going to be cut as, and they're going to be loud," Goodman said.
"It's going to be a hostile crowd for [Fuse] and the better job I do on him, the more they'll be going off."
Gallen brought the drama in the lead-up when he blasted Terzievski for shirking pre-fight media obligations and walked out of Monday's presser.
Terzievski described the performance as "cringy" after stepping off the scales at 102 kilos on Tuesday, with Gallen coming in at 103 kilos.
The heavyweight battle headlines a card that also features Nikita Tszyu's second pro outing against 5-0 Victorian Mason Smith and Olympic bronze-medalist Harry Garside's bout with 5-1 Tasmanian Layton McFerran.
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