Emmanuel Buttigieg looked headed for a loss before turning a difficult fight into a ninth-round knockout win over Jake Goodwin in a middleweight eliminator on Saturday night at the Copper Box Arena in London. The result keeps Buttigieg unbeaten and moves him into position for a shot at the English title.
Buttigieg (12-0, 4 KOs) was forced to work through a fight that never settled in his favor early. Goodwin (8-3-1, 1 KO) had the stronger output for much of the fight, coming forward and landing more often across the middle rounds. He kept Buttigieg working and built an advantage on the scorecards.
The action was interrupted several times when Buttigieg’s mouthpiece came out, and the referee deducted two points. Those moments added to the deficit as the fight moved into the later rounds.
Goodwin continued to push the action, maintaining his volume and landing enough to keep Buttigieg reacting rather than dictating. By the end of the eighth round, Buttigieg appeared behind and in need of a finish.
That moment came in the ninth. Buttigieg found the opening in close and landed a single clean shot that ended the fight immediately. Goodwin fell to the canvas and was unable to beat the count, bringing a sudden end to a contest that had been competitive throughout.
The win gives Buttigieg the eliminator victory and places him in line to challenge for the English middleweight title currently held by Jimmy Sains. It also extends his unbeaten record, though the fight showed that he can be drawn into a pace and made to work over long stretches.
Goodwin was ahead before the stoppage and delivered a performance that tested Buttigieg across multiple rounds. The finish changed the result, but the fight itself required Buttigieg to deal with sustained pressure before finding the shot.
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Last Updated on 2026/03/21 at 4:04 PM
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