By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten Sam Goodman of Australia will be taking on Miguel Flores of Mexico this Saturday, October 14th (October 15th in Australia) in a 12-round super bantamweight tilt. The fight comes from Australia and can be seen live in America on Showtime on the undercard of the Tim Tszyu vs Brian Mendoza bout. Goodman last saw action in June when he beat Ra’eese Aleem by a 12-round unanimous decision. Flores last fought in September, 2022 when he battled to a 10-round draw with former world champion Abner Mares.
Goodman is just 24 years old and climbs through the ropes with a perfect mark of 15-0 with 7 Ko’s. He’s boxed 97 rounds since turning pro in 2018 following an amateur career which saw him reach the semifinals of the 2017 Australian National Championships and 2013 and 2014 Junior Championships. He won the 2017 Oceanian Championships and also fought at the 2016 AIBA Youth World Championships and won the Australian Youth and Junior National Championship in 2016. He stands just over 5-feet-6-inches tall with an unlisted reach.
As far as power goes, Goodman is just about average as 46.7 per cent of his victories have been by stoppage and he’s gone the distance in four of his last five outings. Since turning pro Goodman has also captured the vacant Australasian Featherweight Title along with the IBF Inter-Continental, and WBO Oriental Super Bantamweight Belts. He took a step up in class for the first time earlier this year with a unanimous decision over former world champion TJ Doheny and followed up with the win over Aleem. He also has victories over Richie Mepranum and Juan Miguel Elorde.
The 31-year-old Flores fights out of Texas and enters the contest with a mark of 25-4-1 with 12 Ko’s and was stopped in three of his four losses. He was halted in the sixth round by Dat Nguyen in February, 2017 and stopped due to cuts in his next bout five months later against Chris Avalos. Flores had Avalos down third round but couldn’t finish him off. He was also halted by Eduardo Ramirez in the fifth round in December, 2020. In addition, he dropped a unanimous decision to Leo Santa Cruz in a shot at the vacant WBA ‘super’ World Super Featherweight Title in November, 2019 in the fight before losing to Ramirez.
Flores made his pro debut in 2009 after a short amateur career and has boxed 159 rounds since. He stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 69-inch reach so has a 1.5-inch height advantage over Goodman. Flores also possesses just average power in his fists at best with just 46.7 per cent of his wins coming by knockout. His triumphs have been against Jose Luis Araiza, Carlos Padilla, Alfred Tetteh, Ruben Tamayo and Ryan Kielczweski.
Prediction…
Goodman is just 24 years old while Flores is 31, but Flores has the edge in experience. Flores boxed well against Abner Mares the last time out but Mares was making a comeback after more than four years out of the ring. I think if he lets his hands go and works hard enough Goodman should do enough to earn a hard-fought victory.
