Who is Joe Goodall, and Does He Have a Chance to Beat Efe Ajagba?

Joe Goodall fights Efe Ajagba in the ESPN/Top Rank main event tonight, Saturday, Nov 4 at the Tahoe Blue Event Centre, Lake Tahoe CA, and some intrigue exists for curious boxing fans who haven't seen or heard much about Goodall.

Promoted by Top Rank in association with DiBella Entertainment, and Lane Brothers Boxing, the action kicks off at 6 PM ET, with undercard attractions.

Efe Ajaba (18-1, 13 KOs) will be looking to build on a good start to his heavyweight career, a win over Joe Goodall can be a springboard to bigger and better fights in the division. 

Joe Goodall (10-1-1, 9KOs) will be looking to derail Ajaba's good run of form, Joe Goodall is coming off two consecutive knockout victories and will be looking for much of the same against his Nigeria-born foe. 

With two fresh big-hitting heavyweights, the headline event will make for an interesting contest for as long as it lasts. 

“Goodall doesn't know he's the B side,” is how co promoter Terry Lane phrased it, calling the Aussie a live dog. Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank/Getty

Efe Ajagba Resume Check Before Joe Goodall Fight

Efe Ajagba, a 2016 Olympian, made his professional debut in 2017 reeling off six KOs in his first seven fights. 

Ajaba made steady progress in the division, steeping up with each fight taking on tough and durable heavyweights mostly with winning records ,recording good wins over Michael Wallisch, Ali Eren Demirezen and Razvan Cojanu to name a few. 

He then faced his toughest test and ranked number 18 heavyweight in the world, Cubans unbeaten Frank Sanchez (23-0, 16KOs), ultimately losing to the Cuban via unanimous decision after being dropped in the seventh round. 

However, he has since rebuilt from his sole career loss, recording three victories over Josef Darmos and unbeaten duo Stephan Shaw and Zhan Kossobutskiy. Gayle Falkenthal wrote up the Ajagba-Shaw clash. Ryan O'Hara wrote up his last bout, which had a weird finish.

Joe Goodall Resume Check

Australian knockout artist Joe Goodall will be looking to upset the favorite and announce himself to the heavyweight division and American audiences. 

If Joe Goodall was to beat Ajagba it would represent the biggest of his career thus far. 

Making his pro debut in 2018 he racked up straight wins, five by knockout followed by a majority draw against Chrisitan Ndzie Tsoye. Goodall made his stateside debut with a first-round knockout of Matt McKinney in 2022.

Goodall would come unstuck against fellow Australian Justis Huni. He returned with a quick third-round knockout of Arsene Fosso.  Joe Goodall then registered the most emphatic of his career so far in his last fight with a sixth-round TKO against Stephan Shaw. 

Interestingly, Efe Ajagba beat Stephen Shaw by a majority decision compared to Goodall's TKO victory. Does this give us any indication of how the fight will play out?

Tale of the Tape: Goodall vs Ajagba

Efe Ajagba is the younger man by two years at the age of 29 whilst Goodall is 31 years of age.

Ajagba stands at an imposing 6’5, however still concedes an inch in height to his Australian counterpart. With both men coming in at similar dimensions it will make for an intriguing contest. 

Joe Goodall is the bigger puncher of the two, registering a 90% knockout ratio compared to Ajagba’s 72% knockout ratio.

Goodall's power will give the confidence to knock him out early, the longer the fight goes on, it might favour the Nigerian fighter. With both men being heavy punchers it may be a case that the fight will go as long as it lasts, and we might not see the final bell. 

Ajagba is the favourite coming into the fight priced at 2/11 whereas you can get 5/1 for Joe Goodall to win or a draw is priced 20/1. The winner of the fight will certainly enhance his world title credentials and land bigger fights with bigger rewards. 

The co-feature is a lightweight contest between Raymond Muratalla vs Diego Torres Nunez (below).

Muralla has the look of a future star, check him out on ESPN tonight. Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank for Getty Images

Both fighters have identical records coming at 18-0.

Muratella turned pro in 2016, he's nicknamed “Danger,” which is apt as he has won 15 of his fights inside the distance, including his last three contests. 

In his last fight he claimed the NABF lightweight title with a TKO victory over Jeremia Nakathila. 

Muratalla and Nunez were supposed to fight in August however it was pushed back due to an injury to Nunez.

Nunez also 18-0 turned pro three years later in 2019, ‘Azabache’ will be fighting for the first time outside of Mexico. Winning all but one via knockout, his last fight was a TKO victory over Julio Barraza.

This explosive lightweight contest may well steal the headlines, not only is it a Mexico-American rivalry, but someone’s 0 has to go. This fight has the potential to be the fight of the night, the winner with an enhanced reputation.

The rest of the card as follows:

• Henry Lebron (18-0) faces William Foster III.  (16-0)
•  Brandon Moore (12-0) vs. Robert Simms (12-3-1)
• Lindolfo Delgado (18-0) vs. Luis Hernandez Ramos (23-3)
• Javier Martinez (8-0-1) vs Isaiah Wise (11-2-2)
• Omar Rosario (11-0) vs. Angel Rebollar (7-3)
• Antonio Mireles (8-0) vs. Skylar Lacy (7-0)
• Gabriel Garcia (9-0) vs. Joshua Montoya (6-3-2)
• Charlie Sheehy (7-0) vs. Jesus Vasquez Jr. (10-1)
• Christian Avalos (0-1-2) vs. Estevan Partida (1-1-1)