'On the road to greatness': Aussie world title fancy's brutal message ...

Sam Goodman insisted he remains “on the road to greatness” after dispatching a game Mark Schleibs in just four rounds.

In front of his home crowd at the WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong, Goodman showed exactly why he is the No. 1 contender at super bantamweight.

Despite Schleibs opening with a wild left hook — a sign of the gameplan he developed with former world champion Nonito Donaire — it was all one-way traffic in favour of Goodman.

The 25-year-old hunted down Schleibs to every corner of the ring and never gave the Victorian space to breathe, teeing off in flurries of punches that drew roars of delight from Goodman’s supporter crew ‘The Mad Bunch’.

Speaking on commentary, former world champion Barry Michael and Main Event’s Ben Damon remarked at Goodman’s newfound aggression.

“Sam Goodman is on a mission, he is relentless,” Michael said.

Damon added: “We haven’t seen this version before.”

Ben Damon added: “We haven’t seen this version before.”

Goodman stepped on the gas pedal in the third round and had Schleibs’ corner ready to throw the towel in, but the latter managed to make it into the fourth round.

It only served as delaying the inevitable, as one final barrage from Goodman forced the referee to intervene and wave the contest off.

“Goodman, on the road to greatness,” Damon said.

Michael added: “It was the best I’ve ever seen him fight.

“I've never seen him punch so hard and really want to destroy a bloke.”

Goodman said he had always dreamed of winning a main event bout in his hometown but the reality was even better.

Meanwhile Issac Hardman’s two-fight win streak has come to a brutal halt after he was stopped by Endry Saveedra in the eighth round of their encounter for the WBO intercontinental middleweight title.

With both men possessing serious knockout power, it felt a finish from either man was going to come before the final bell.

Unfortunately for the local crowd, it arrived but not for Hardman.

Instead, it was Saavedra who landed a flurry of shots late in the eighth round that backed Hardman onto the ropes.

From there, it was a matter of time as Saavedra piled on the punches before the referee stepped in to save Hardman from further damage.

Earlier, Curtis Scott was victorious in his pro boxing debut, knocking out Joey Leilua early in the second round.

Earlier he put the fellow ex-NRL player on blast for one final time before their fight, insisting he “should be worried about the fight" and not who will walk to the ring first.

Scott, the A-side for the bout, was supposed to walk second and was considered the favourite.

However, it didn’t stop Leilua from airing his frustrations about being made to walk first and the change was made right before the bout.

“They’re just little problems that mean nothing to me mate,” Scott said.

“We’re gonna get out there and settle this so he should be worried about the fight, not walking out first.”

But not long after a backstage interview with Scott aired, it was revealed Leilua would, in fact, walk to the ring second.

When asked about the late change, Leilua claimed: “Must’ve been my team, it wasn’t me.”

Giving up almost 30 kilograms, Scott landed the first big shot less than a minute into the fight, leaving Leilua smiling yet “worried” according to Ben Damon on commentary.

Another powerful right soon followed with Damon and ex-boxer Barry Michael agreeing it was a strong first round for Scott, despite a couple of big Leilua shots.

Scott then recorded a stoppage victory with 2:18 left in the second round after grazing him in the head with the left, hitting a big swinging right hand and seemingly shoving Leilua to the mat.

“He certainly made a statement,” Michael said.

“I trained for the knockout,” Scott said, saying he went for the winner as Leilua was switching from southpaw and “fired it right down the middle”.

He then called out AFL great Barry Hall.

FULL FIGHT CARD

Sam Goodman vs. Mark Schleibs; super bantamweight

Issac Hardman def by Endry Saavedra via TKO in Round 8

Curtis Scott def Joey Leilua via KO in Round 2

Koen Mazoudier def Travis Druce via TKO (corner stoppage) in Round 5

Kiki Toa Leutele def Arsene Fosso via UD (60-52, 60-53, 58-54)

Zeke Campbell def Laban Stringer via UD (58-56, 59-55 x 2)

UNDERCARD

Chloe Grech v Connie Brown ends in Majority Draw (38-38 x 2, Brown 39-37)

Charlie Kazzi def Roy Gavera via UD (40-35 x 3)

Campbell Somerville def Sandeep Kumar via TKO in Round 1