Australian heavyweight Joseph Goodall goes up against Nigerian contender Efe Ajagba on Saturday, November 4 at Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline, Nevada. The pair battles it out in the main event live on ESPN+. The contest is scheduled for 10 rounds with the WBC ‘Silver’ title on the line.
Ajagba and Goodall previously fought in the semifinals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. The Australian boxer took the victory by decision.
Brisbane-based Joseph Goodall (10-1-1, 9 KOs) last fought in July, when he stopped Stephan Shaw in the sixth round. The 31-year-old native of Bendigo, Victoria makes his second ring apperance for 2023 and targets his third win in a row.
“This is a big clash Saturday night,” Goodall said at the pre-fight press conference. “Efe Ajagba is a tough fighter. I believe I’m up there with the top fighters in the world. It’s no secret that with the WBC ‘Silver’ title on the line, the winner may get a world title shot. Being the winner of this means everything to me.”
“Without giving away too much, his only loss was to Frank Sanchez. I watched that fight. Frank’s movement was pretty good in that fight. I don’t want to say that I’ll copy him, but there are some things in that fight that I can implement. But once again, we’ve sparred before. We know each other well. So, it’s about executing the plan on fight night.”
Stafford, Texas-based Efe Ajagba (18-1, 13 KOs) was in action in August, when he took the win against Zhan Kossobutskiy via fourth-round disqualification. Ughelli, Nigeria’s 29-year-old looks for his fourth straight victory.
“The ‘Silent Roller’ is my nickname, so I’m going to come out as a beast in the fight,” said Ajagba. “I’m silent outside, but in the ring, I’m a different guy.”
“This fight means a lot to me. For me, this fight is going to get me closer to a world title fight. So, after this fight, we’ll see where we go from there.”
“We sparred each other a long time ago. And I lost to him in the Commonwealth Games in 2014. So, that’s the guy I lost to. This fight will be a rematch for me. This fight means a lot to me because of that loss.”
“I’m going to come as beast in the ring. I’m going to come with everything, the training, the sparring, everything I did. I’ve been knocking people out in sparring. I’m going to put all of that in the fight.”
The co-main event pits undefeated Raymond Muratalla (18-0, 15 KOs) of West Covina, California against unbeaten Diego Torres Nunez (18-0, 17 KOs) of Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico. The bout is scheduled for 10 rounds with NABF and WBO Global lightweight belts at stake.
Among Ajagba vs Goodall undercard bouts, unbeaten Brandon Moore (12-0, 8 KOs) of Lakeland, Florida faces Robert Simms (12-3-1, 3 KOs) of Saginaw, Michigan in an eight-round bout at heavyweight. As well, Henry Lebron (18-0, 10 KOs) of Moca, Puerto Rico meets fellow-unbeaten William Foster III (16-0, 10 KOs) of New Haven, Connecticut in a 10-round contest at super featherweight. Plus, Antonio Mireles (8-0, 7 KOs) of Des Moines, Iowa and Skylar Lacy (7-0, 5 KOs) of Indianapolis, Indiana clash in a six-round bout at heavyweight.
In Australia, the event airs on Sunday, November 5 live on Kayo.
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