An overdue date with pound-for-pound king Naoya Inoue is one win away for Sam Goodman after the IBF mandated a super bantamweight date between the Australian and another former Japanese champion.
The 27-year-old Goodman (22-1) will face Ryosuke Nishida (11-1) for the IBF's interim belt, with the winner to battle undisputed champion Inoue (33-0, 27 KOs).
Twice Goodman was forced to pull out of blockbuster Tokyo bouts with Inoue due to a badly-cut eye suffered in sparring.
He then lost to Nick Ball after taking a world title shot up a division at featherweight, before beating Rodrigo Fabian Ruiz in Wollongong in April.
Victory over Ruiz shot Goodman back to No.2 in the super bantamweight rankings behind the 29-year-old Nishida, who relinquished his IBF belt to countryman Junto Nakatani.
Inoue beat Nakatani in May to take possession of all four belts.
Both parties have 30 days to finalise terms before the fight proceeds to purse bids.
Goodman's promoter No Limit Boxing managed to win their most recent purse bid, forcing Northern Irish welterweight world champion Lewis Crocker to Brisbane to face challenger Liam Paro in his home state next Wednesday.
