In a battle of former rugby players donning boxing gloves, heavyweight Nelson Asofa-Solomona had to battle through some difficulty during the first two rounds before putting away Jarrod Wallace in the third round. Their bout was featured on the undercard of Tim Tszyu vs. Denis Nurja on Sunday at the WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong, Australia.
The first round seemed like it would belong solely to Asofa-Solomona, who scored with a flush one-two in the opening moments. At 6-foot-7, he was five inches taller than Wallace, who was not only shorter but tubbier with his physique and sloppier with his technique.
But Wallace was being patient, circling to his left and waiting for the right opportunity. It came toward the end of the round, when he landed a left hook, threw a right that cuffed the side of Asofa-Solomona’s head and tossed another looping right that struck Asofa-Solomona in the ear.
As the fighters clinched, their heads collided, opening a cut above Asofa-Solomona’s right eyebrow just before the two men crashed to the floor.
Wallace hurt Asofa-Solomona again early in the second round. Asofa-Solomona became cautious, backing away whenever Wallace threw, while Wallace was just waiting for Asofa-Solomona to come forward and remain in range for return fire.
But a pep talk from his trainer before the third round set Asofa-Solomona up for success. He utilized his jab to distract from the follow-up right uppercut, then sent a right cross that dropped Wallace hard. Wallace was up after the count of eight on weakened legs. He attempted a Hail Mary of a wild looping right, and Asofa-Solomona landed two chopping rights that sent Wallace falling forward. The referee waved things off.
Asofa-Solomona, a 30-year-old who lives in Melbourne, is now 2-0 (2 KOs). Wallace, a 34-year-old from the Gold Coast, is now 0-1.
Afterward, Asofa-Solomona called another former rugby player, George Burgess, to the ring. They exchanged a bit of trash talk and agreed to fight at an undetermined future date.
In other televised bouts on the undercard of Tim Tszyu vs. Denis Nurja:
Unbeaten middleweights Callum Peters and Delio Anzaqeci Mouzinho had a four-minute firefight, but it was Peters who had more firepower, dropping Mouzinho once in the first round and again in the second for the technical knockout victory.
Mouzinho traded aggressively in the opening minute, and Peters happily obliged. After all, Peters was doing a better job of dodging shots and landing between Mouzinho’s volleys. And as Peters began to score more, he recognized that he could continue to pour on the punishment given that Mouzinho was mainly moving his hands rather than his head or feet.
With 14 seconds remaining in the first, Peters had Mouzinho reeling across the ring and falling forward to the canvas. Mouzinho beat the count and got a minute to recover between rounds, coming out for the second much as he had for the first. Again, Peters was having the best of the exchanges. Two left hooks and a right hand sent Mouzinho down hard. Mouzinho rose on unsteady legs, and the ref called off the match.
Peters, a 23-year-old from Adelaide who fought in the 2024 Olympics, improved to 6-0 (6 KOs). Mouzinho, a 26-year-old from the country of East Timor, suffered his first defeat and is now 4-1 (4 KOs).
In the opening bout of the Prime Video stream, light heavyweight prospect Paolo Aokuso stopped a hobbled Kittipong Jian Hao Ho in the first round.
Jian Hao Ho came in wearing a brace on his right knee, which didn’t do enough to stabilize whatever injury he was dealing with. In the opening seconds, Jian Hao Ho took a step back to try to avoid a jab and collapsed down, holding his knee. Jian Hao Ho rose, only to be dropped by a left hand about halfway into the round.
Again Jian Hao Ho got up, but he limped toward a neutral corner, took a knee and then rose to beat the count. Aokuso soon landed another left that sent Jian Hao Hao down once more, this time for good. Jian Hao Ho sat in the corner, holding his knee as the ref waved off the fight.
Aokuso, a 28-year-old from Sydney who competed in the Olympics in 2021, moved to 10-0 (5 KOs). Jian Hao Hao, a 28-year-old from Singapore who lives and fights out of Thailand, fell to 13-2-1 (12 KOs).
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
