‘He cherry-picks’ - Dylan Biggs eyes up Nikita Tszyu blockbuster after stunning knockout
Dylan Biggs just made light work of Ryan Mitchem, setting up a huge bout with Nikita Tszyu later this year, recap all the action as it happened at Moore Park.
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Dylan Biggs has booked a fight with Nikita Tszyu in the most emphatic way possible, knocking out Ryan Mitchem in the first round of their super-welterweight bout at Moore Park.
Biggs sent Mitchem to the canvas three times before the fight was stopped with 18 seconds left in the first.
The win sees Biggs retain the Australian super-welterweight title and set up a fight with Tszyu in a pay per view blockbuster scheduled for November.
Tszyu is 7-0 since debuting in March last year, and is coming off a sixth round TKO of Jack Brubaker in August.
Biggs doesn’t believe Tszyu has fought anyone of his calibre.
“Nikita has a lot of mismatches, and cherry-picks a lot of his fights,” Biggs said. “He either gets them on their way out, or they’re just fressh, or too small.
“He’s never fought someone on his level, and I’m that person.”
Although the commentary has all been around Biggs booking his spot against Tszyu, the 21-year-old was quick to point out that he’s the one with the national title.
“I think it’s just that people value the name over the belt, which I don’t respect,” he said. “Each to their own.
“Hopefully Nikita can understand where I’m coming from and take the fight.”
Murray gets off the canvas to beat Marsters
There’s been fiery scenes after Jackson Murray earned a hotly contested split decision over Louis Marsters in the co-main event.
Murray was floored by a massive right hand in the fourth round, before claiming a decision with scores of 58-55, 58-55 and 56-57.
Marstsers’ corner erupted in anger after the decision was announced, with one cornerman escorted backstage.
Murray had managed to stay out of danger in the opening three rounds of his first fight in 14 months.
But Marsters finally landed one of his Mike Tyson-like hooks and the fourth and sent Murray to the canvas. Hard.
The shot energised Marsters, who was 3-5 going into the bout, with the New Zealand-born slugger pushing the pace until the final bell.
Many in the crowd at Hoops Capital at Moore Park openly questioned the decision too.
Vegas Larfield in shock loss
Rising star Vegas Larfield lost a controversial decision to Albert Nolan in a brilliant eight-round regional featherweight title fight.
Despite breaking his nose, Nolan scored a unanimous decision win over the highly touted Larfield with scores of 77-75, 78-74 and 78-77.
There was some controversy in the fourth round when Nolan was hit with a big right hand and buckled. Only the ring post held him up, which should have been ruled as a knockdown.
The sixth round was then cut short by a minute after a mistake by one of the ringside officials. It was an even round, with Larfield arguably gaining the upper hand when it was stopped early.
Two of three judges awarded the round to Nolan.
The result is Larfield’s first loss of his career, with Nolan holding onto his featherweight regional WBC title.
“Sorry, my nose is broken,” said Nolan afterwards.
A disappointed Larfield said he’d be interested in an immediate rematch.
“It was a good, tough fight, I thought I might’ve done enough,” he said. “He deserves to win, well done.
“I’ll be back.”
Beekin and Pavlides in absolute dogfight
8:35pm - We’ve just a potential fight of the year contender between Cody Beeking and Joel Pavlides in the second bout of the night.
The hard-hitting middleweights went at it for six rounds, landing some truly outrageous shots before Pavlides was awarded the decision with scores of 59-55, 59-55 and 58-56.
Whatever you’re doing, whenever these two fight next, tune in!
Linde drops decision
8pm - What a way to kick off the card!
Johan Linde, the former senior economics advisor to Dominic Perrottet, dropped a wildly entertaining four-round decision to Brandon Grach.
The pair of heavyweights threw bombs for 12 minutes before Grach earned a majority decision win with scores of 38-38, 39-37 and 39-37.
The bout was Linde’s second since returning to the sport at the age of 40.
The 2012 London Olympian, who fought Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker in the amateurs, worked as an economics advisor on Perrottet’s staff during the Covid years.
After the Coalition lost the State election in March, he “had a bit of time on my hands” so returned to serious training and made a winning debut in June.
Debutant Grach was aggressive early on, but ended the first round with a cut over his left eye from a headclash.
Grach was able to stay on the front foot for most of the fight, before snatching the narrow win.
Earlier -
Johan Linde is switching balance sheets for boxing gloves, with the former economics advisor to Dominic Perrottet preparing for his second professional heavyweight boxing match.
A 2012 London Olympian, Linde spent three years advising former New South Wales Premier Perrottet before turning pro in June.
Linde – who fought boxing superstar Anthony Joshua in the amateurs in 2012 – will take on Brandon Grach on tonight’s No Limit on Fox card at Moore Park.
The 40-year-old says his time spent working for the Premier was good preparation for his switch back to boxing.
“It gets you ready for it,” he tells this masthead. “Boxing is the best sport in the world, it gets in your blood.
“I’ve just turned 40, and you can’t have regrets in life. I’ve still got a couple of years left, so let’s see what we can do.”
After qualifying for the 2012 Olympics, Linde fought future heavyweight world champion Joshua in a warm-up tournament in Lithuania.
The South Australian is blunt when asked for his memories of fighting the Brit.
“I remember his right hand,” he laughs. ”He stopped me in the second round, he‘s an animal.
“I was winning the first round with my jab, then, ‘Boom!’ right hand, thanks for coming.”
By 2014, after going as far as he felt he could in boxing, Linde focused instead on his career.
An economist by trade, he worked at New South Wales treasury before joining then-treasurer Perrottet’s staff in February 2020.
Linde played a vital role as Perrottet’s team navigated Covid and the economic turmoil the pandemic created.
“Probably chief problem solver,” Linde says when asked what his job entailed in those months. “With Covid, it’s ‘who’s going to step up and try and help businesses and keep things on track?’ and I think it’s only the government that can do it.
“That’s what we were focused on. Then it was the recovery out of Covid, to keep the economy going. We had the lowest unemployment on record.
“We did a pretty good job – although I would say that!”
Linde calculates that after the first three months of the pandemic, his team “made $29 billion worth of decisions for the economy,” as he worked upwards of 100 hours a week.
“There’s no playbook. There was nothing to go on, where society just shuts down,” he says. “It made a difference, but at the end of the day, you can’t replace private businesses and the economy flowing as normal.
“It was a very intense time.”
Linde kept fit and relieved stress with regular sessions at the Parliament House gym, and decided to turn pro when the Coalition lost the state election in March and “I had a bit of time on my hands.”
A big basketball fan who has played hoops for charity, Perrottet can also handle himself with a pair of boxing gloves on, Linde says.
“We trained a few times. He’s pretty handy, he’s got long reach,” he says. “He could throw a punch.
“We did a bit of boxing, weight training, a few different things. But for him, it was just time.
“He’s probably the busiest guy in the state, so when you’re premier, you don’t have much time.
“He enjoyed the boxing, but I don’t think he’s thinking about a career switch.”
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