Sam Goodman did not travel to Tokyo to admire Ryosuke Nishida’s boxing. He crowded the Japanese southpaw, worked his body, and kept throwing through a rough 12 rounds to win the vacant IBF interim super bantamweight title Sunday at Toyota Arena Tokyo.

Goodman won a unanimous decision by scores of 116-109, 115-110 and 114-111 on the Takuma Inoue–Tenshin Nasukawa undercard. The Australian improved to 23-1 with eight knockouts. Nishida fell to 11-2.

Nishida had the reach and the sharper single shots. He found Goodman with his left hand, particularly in the fourth round, and had spells when he pushed forward himself. But Goodman refused to spend long at the distance Nishida wanted. A straight right and left hook helped him get inside, where he leaned on Nishida and kept punching to the body and head.

The fight became untidy early. Goodman was cut on the forehead in round three. Nishida also bled and developed swelling around his right eye. Neither man backed away from the exchanges, and their work up close brought referee Deon Dwarte into the story.

In the eighth, Dwarte took a point from Goodman for leading with his head and one from Nishida for repeated fouls, including a low blow. Nishida lost another point for low blows in the 10th and received a warning in the 11th.

The deductions widened the final scores, especially the 116-109 card. Nishida can point to them when looking at the margins, but he still had to solve the central problem: Goodman kept getting close enough to work. When Nishida tried to box at range in the 10th and press late, the Australian continued to meet him with punches. The pace eased in the final two rounds without Goodman giving up ground.

It was a hard way for Goodman to claim the biggest win of his career. Cuts had previously forced him out of two planned fights with undisputed champion Naoya Inoue. This time he fought through one, beat a former IBF bantamweight champion in Japan, and left with a title that could put him back on Inoue’s path.

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