Nelson Asofa-Solomona has won the battle of former NRL heavyweights with a third-round TKO of Jarrod Wallace, and has already set sights on his next potential opponent: George Burgess.
Former Queensland Origin representative Wallace, who was making his pro debut but had previously had an exhibition bout against Asofa-Solomona (2-0, 2 KOs), acquitted himself well through the first two rounds in Wollongong on Sunday.
Clearly the crowd favourite, Wallace, who played in the NRL with the Broncos, Titans and Dolphins, drew big cheers after tagging Asofa-Solomona with right-hand shots in the first two rounds.
New Zealand representative and Melbourne Storm NRL premiership winner Asofa-Solomona threw quite a few air swings in those rounds, but stepped up in the third, knocking Wallace down twice with right hands before the fight was stopped.
Asofa-Solomona encountered some adversity along the way, being cut above the right eye through a head clash.
"I'm not happy with that performance at all," the winner said.
"He was showing something a little bit different which was good, something to learn from, but good work nonetheless.
"He was good with his movement, just taking me off planting my feet. Back to the drawing board.''
Former England international Burgess was at Sunday's fight and Asofa-Solomona said he was interested in a bout against the ex-South Sydney star, who hasn't had a professional boxing contest.
Also on Sunday, local Wollongong hero Sam Goodman dominated late to clinch his IBF super bantamweight world title eliminator with a 12-round unanimous-points win over Argentinian Rodrigo Ruiz.
The 10th-ranked Ruiz (23-2,17 KOs) was happy to engage in close-range action with Goodman, ranked fifth by the IBF.
Roared on by the parochial crowd, Goodman (22-1, 8 KOs) displayed his trademark ringcraft and had Ruiz back-pedalling in the later rounds.
Goodman, who has had issues with cuts in the past, was cut again, but revealed the damage was initially done three and a half weeks ago.
Sydney light heavyweight Paulo Aokuso (10-0, 5 KOs) won the vacant IBF Pan Pacific light heavyweight title and secured a world ranking with a first-round TKO of Singapore-born Thai-based Kittipong Jian Sao Ho (13-2-1, 12 KOs).
Rising middleweight and Australian 2024 Olympian Callum Peters (6-0, 6 KOs) scored a second-round TKO of wild-swinging Timor-Leste fighter Delio Mouzinho (4-1, 4 KOs).
Victoria's Max Reeves (13-1-1, 8KOs) won the vacant WBO Oriental super middleweight title with a split-points victory over New Zealander Francis Waitai Waitai (13-4-1, 1 KOs).
In another crowd-pleasing scrap, Sydneysiders Charlie Kazzi (9-0-1, 4 KOs) and Blair Geraghty (5-0-1, 5 KOs) slugged out a majority draw in a fight for the vacant Australian super lightweight title.
