Sam Goodman to headline blockbuster pay-per-view boxing card in Wollongong

Currently the mandatory challenger to the IBF and WBO super-bantamweight straps held by Japanese megastar Naoya Inoue, Goodman will put his global ranking on the line against 13-2 Aussie Mark Schleibs just metres from where he once pulled beers as a Steelers Club barman.

The 25-year-old will be the first Illawarra product to headline a pay-per-view card in Wollongong since Shannan Taylor's spiteful showdown with Anthony Mundine at the WEC in February 2009.

The 25-year-old will headline the March 13 card also featuring colourful world-rated middleweight Issac Hardman, and what's set to be an explosive contest between former NRL bad boys Joey Leilua and Curtis Scott.

For promotor No Limit Boxing, it'll be return to the scene of one of the most sensational upsets in Australian boxing history when Paul Gallen KO'd former heavyweight world champion Lucas Browne in the first round at the Sandpit in April 2021.

With Goodman boasting one of the biggest - and certainly rowdiest - fanbases in Australian boxing, the 17-0 local slugger will be looking to see a packed house ahead of a planned return to the venue with a world title on the line at a later date.

With the bout to be officially unveiled at the WEC on Tuesday, fans can expect a spiteful build-up given 30-year-old Schleibs' well-known penchant for aggressive pre-fight smack talk.

Typically one to save talking for the ring, Goodman's more than happy to meet fire with fire in the build-up to the fight announcement.

"He was running his mouth all over social media, so I get a chance to shut him up and it's something I'm happy to do," Goodman said.

"I needed to fight, I want to stay busy. He's pretty-much talked his way into this position, so I'm really looking forward to shutting him up.

"He's a pretender, he's not really about what he says. He's all polite in person, he tries to shake your hand, but then he will shit himself when you put it on him.

"That's his character is. Everything he says in the media is all a persona for him to get a few more clicks. I don't rate him, I don't like him, and I want to flog him.

"He carries on, he talks a lot of shit but in person, he says f--k all. I'm keen, it's the fight boys have thrown up and I'm very confident and very happy to shut this guy up again."

Schleibs was similarly vocal ahead of his first-round TKO loss to Queenslander Rocky Ogden on the Gold Coast in June last year, a card on which Goodman claimed his IBF mandatory status with a win over previously unbeaten American Ra'eese Aleem.

Goodman's since been taken the distance by durable Mexican Miguel Flores and previously undefeated Chinese Southpaw Zhong Liu, while Schleibs returned to the winners' circle with a devastating knockout of Fijian Shamal Ram Anuj.

He's since been vocal about Goodman's lack of a stoppage win in his last five outings, but the hometown hero says he plans on exposing the gulf in class between the pair inside the ropes at the WEC.

"He can talk all the shit he wants about knockouts and stuff, he's never been close to the level I've been operating at," Goodman said.

"I was happy to take it because, after my last fight, it wasn't my best performance. I tried to press the fight against the undefeated guy (Liu) who was relatively unknown, but was well world-ranked, something Schleibs isn't.

"You've just got to go through resumes. His last fight he was fighting a bloke (Anuj) who I fought in my third fight an 18-year-old kid. That tells you all you need to know about Mark Schleibs.

"He got knocked out by good fighter in Rocky Ogden, but this is world-class level. The fights I'm having last year to the fights he was having ... it's two different sports.

"He's talking out his arse. It has got him this fight, so good on him for that, but he's going to fall short again, look like an idiot, and then go on his merry way to doing f--k all."

As for what Schleibs can expect from Goodman's famed 'Mad Bunch' supporter crew on their own patch, the heavy favourite was equally emphatic.

"They're going to be calling for his blood," Goodman said.

"A lot of people have seen all the shit he's been putting out on social media, and all the stuff he's had to say. It's going to be very hostile.

"No doubt he's going to talk a bit of shit when we come face-to-face, he's going put on this persona that he's got going on, but when it's time to really go to work and really be a dog, he's got nothing.

"I think he likes everything else that comes with the sport. I think he loves all the interviews, the camera, he loves a bit of attention. He's a bit of an attention whore.

"That's how I view Mark Schleibs, I don't think he's really a fighter, I don't think he's got that dog in him. I'll give him a boxing lesson and then I'll take him out."

The card will also see former NRL villains Leilua and Scott got at it, the latter on debut. Leilua may well bank on local support given he's signed with the Dapto Canaries for the 2024 Illawarra League season.

In the co-headliner, heavy-punching Hardman will take on 15-1 Venezuelan, and Rio Olympian, Endry Saavedra, while the card is also set to host a plethora of Wollongong talent to be confirmed on Tuesday.