Siosiua Taukeiaho has taken a unanimous resolution victory (39-36, 40-35, 40-35) over Jaiman Lowe in his skilled debut, though he was controversially credited with a knockdown which Jeff Fenech was removed from satisfied with.
All the stress was on Taukeiaho and any expectations of an early end proved to be wishful considering, with Lowe doing properly to maintain distance and keep away from any actual injury within the opening two rounds.
Neither of two fighters have been in a position to land any punches of notice, though Taukeiaho scored one knockdown within the second spherical, even when Jeff Fenech didn’t essentially agree with the ruling.
“Definitely not a punch that knocked him down,” Fenech mentioned.
“Just off-balance. Definitely not a knockdown.”
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It was really Lowe who had scored with extra punches after the second spherical, remaining affected person and ensuring to not exhaust any of his power unnecessarily.
That continued into the third too, with Lowe backing Taukeiaho up in opposition to the ropes at one level as he looked for the precise hand to place the previous Roosters entrance rower away.
“He’s given a very good account of himself on short notice has Jaiman Lowe,” mentioned Ben Damon in commentary.
“A tremendous learning fight for Sio Siua Taukeiaho.”
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Speaking after the combat, Paul Kent mentioned he was impressed with what he noticed from the previous premiership-winning prop given what he had seen up to now from others who had made the leap from the footy subject to the boxing ring.
“I just thought he showed himself as a very educated fighter,” he mentioned.
“A lot of times when we see these footballers get in the ring they brawl a bit and are very right-hand heavy but Taukeiaho was catching punches with his gloves. He really showed he knew what he was doing in the ring. I’d just like to see himself set himself to throw a few more combinations.”
Although like Fenech, Kent additionally agreed that Taukeiaho mustn’t have been credited with a knockdown within the second spherical.
“This was disappointing,” he mentioned.
“I understand how the referee made a mistake but this was not a knockdown.”
Taukeiaho instructed Damon post-fight that he would welcome the prospect to take one combat within the rugby league low season ought to the chance proceed to current itself.
“It was good,” he mentioned.
“It was pretty hard to get him, thanks to Jaiman for the opportunity. I obviously didn’t take him lightly. Of course he’s going to bring power.”