Aokuso vs. Quinlan: Paulo Aokuso a class above, but can’t stop Renold Quinlan
Paulo Aokuso dominated the bout, but couldn’t quite end it with a knockout.
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Paulo Aokuso promised to retire Renold Quinlan, and the rising star of Australian boxing nearly did just that on Wednesday night, outpointing the rugged veteran over eight lopsided rounds at Moore Park.
Only Quinlan’s phenomenal toughness saw him last until the final bell before Aokuso was announced the winner, taking every round on every scorecard.
The win moves Aokuso to 5-0 since his debut last year, with the Mt Druitt fighter showing glimpses of his idol Roy Jones Jr in the one-sided beatdown.
Aokuso shrugged off the distraction of missing weight and not being allowed to have his adviser Fidel Tukel ringside as he put on a show in the first headline fight of his career.
Tukel was controversially banned by the NSW Combat Sports Authority from sitting at ringside over previous links to the Comanchero bikie gang. Tukel was at the venue, but watched from a distance.
The only blemish on Aokuso’s performance was that he didn’t land a decisive knockout blow to rubber stamp his dominance.
“He’s a former world champion for a reason,” Aokuso said of the one-time IBO super-middleweight titleholder. “He’s a tough competitor. He took all my punches.”
Quinlan started fast, even stunning Aokuso in the opening round, before ‘Sweet P’s’ power took over.
Aokuso’s jack hammer left hand started landing in the second, and he nearly finished it before the end of the round.
By the third, it looked a foregone conclusion, Aokuso wailing away at will to Quinlan’s head and body.
A game Quinlan held on bravely, and could always wing a dangerous haymaker, but Aokuso was in complete control, even patting his opponent on the head at the end of the third round.
Aokuso dominated most of the fight, but Quinlan barely took a backward step, and even worried the former Olympian with some wild attacking flourishes.
Aokuso said he wants to fight again in five weeks’ time on Nikita Tszyu’s pay-per-view undercard in Sydney.
10:pm - Jack Brubaker has capped off a successful boxing comeback, beating Troy O’Meley and calling out Nikita Tszyu.
After 27 months out of the ring, Brubaker outfought the rugged and relentless O’Meley with scores of 58-55 on all three scorecards.
Brubaker wants to turn around and face Nikita Tszyu in five weeks’ time, having previously lost to older brother Tim in 2019.
“I’d love to get my revenge on Timmy and knock out little baby bro Nikita,” Brubaker told this masthead on Monday.
Asked about his former foe’s comments, Tim was dismissive of his chances against Nikita.
“Ah man…that bloke’s in dreamworld, bro,” Tszyu told this masthead. “Imagine what Nikita would do to the poor kid.
“I like Jack, he’s a good, funny bloke, but he’s very delusional. I think he’s been hit a few too many times.
“Putting him in with a little beast like Nikita, it’s not gonna end well.
Asked whether Nikita could stop Brubaker quicker than the four rounds it took him, Tszyu said: “That’s a good question...nah I don’t think so.”
The elder Tszyu was watching from home, and took to Instagram with his assessment.
“Nikita whoops both of them in the same night at the same time...” he wrote.
After missing weight by two kilograms, O’Meley had Brubaker covering up against the ropes early in the first round, but ‘Gelignite’ Jack fought back well, opening a cut over O’Meley’s eye by the end of the opening three minutes.
O’Meley hit the canvas in the opening moments of the second round, but they were evenly matched throughout the rest of the fight.
O’Meley’s weight advantage was telling in the final few rounds, with the 30-year-old landing some heavy shots on the tough as teak Brubaker.
The winner of Brubaker-O’Meley wants to fight Nikita Tszyu.
— Brendan Bradford (@1bbradfo) July 19, 2023
Tim just weighed in…#AokusoQuinlanpic.twitter.com/m6bdEIvUVB
9:24pm - Youssef Dib has claimed the IBF Australasian lightweight title with a ninth round TKO win over Miles Zalewski.
Dib overcame a cut on his left eye and a knockdown in the sixth round to surge back and force Zalewski’s corner to throw in the towel.
The win will see Dib - younger brother of former world champion Billy Dib - climb the IBF rankings. ‘Uwee’ hopes to position himself for an all-Australian lightweight world title fight with George Kambosos Jr.
Kambosos fights Englishman Maxi Hughes in the US this weekend in an IBF eliminator.
“We have history, he called out my brother,” Dib said after the win. “Now I’m calling him out.”
Dib got the better of the earlier rounds, but it all came undone in a flash in the sixth. A short left hook sent a bleeding Dib heavily to the canvas and he had a point taken away when he spat his mouthpiece out later in the round.
Dib survived the round, but Zalewski’s size and power became evident as the Queenslander went in for the finish.
Dib worked his way back into the fight in the eighth, timing Zalewski’s attacks and controlling distance with his jab.
Dib landed a series of nice one-twos in the ninth, sending Zalewski careening into the ropes before his corner threw in the towel.
The scorecards for Dib-Zalewski at the time of the stoppage. #AokusoQuinlanpic.twitter.com/kqdIN2HujC
— Brendan Bradford (@1bbradfo) July 19, 2023
8:34pm - Chuck Taylor high top wearing cult figure Isaias Sette opens the card with a rock ‘em, sock ‘em type of win unanimous decision win over the rugged Ankush Houda.
Sette wears Chucks when he fights because, “With my JD Sport staffing discount, they’re $80. Ain’t spending $400 on boxing boots” and is quickly earning a legion of fans for his all action style.
EARLIER -
Paulo Aokuso will revert to a “normal” walkout when he fights Renold Quinlan tonight after Western Sydney rap group OneFour was banned from performing at his last bout in March.
Aokuso was preparing to have OneFour perform their most recent single Comma’s live during his walkout on the Tim Tszyu vs Tony Harrison undercard at Qudos Bank Arena four months ago, but those plans were thwarted by police at the last minute.
Members of the anti-gang Raptor Squad intervened at the venue, telling OneFour their passes to perform live had been cancelled.
Instead, members of OneFour sat with their mate Aokuso in his dressing room as he warmed up, said a prayer with him before his fight and walked alongside him to the ring.
Although they were allowed to accompany him to the ring, Comma’s wasn’t allowed to be played, with Top by American rapper Fredo Bang blasted out at the arena instead.
Police have barred OneFour from performing shows throughout Sydney, citing the threat of violence from rival gangs.
“I was getting ready in the hotel room and one of the boys called me and said, ‘Uso, sorry, we can’t perform. The cops just stopped us from performing’,” Aokuso told this masthead about the fight in March.
“It was good they got to walk out with us, but it was a shame they couldn’t perform. Hopefully we can fight out of New South Wales and they can perform for us.
“They did sound check and everything, but you know how it is. I don’t know if it’s justice or what it is.”
There will be no rap presence at Moore Park on Wednesday night when Aokuso faces Quinlan, with the 4-0 ‘Sweet P’ confirming he’ll “just have a normal” walkout instead.
Aokuso had hoped to follow in a longstanding tradition of rappers accompanying boxers to the ring. Floyd Mayweather has famously walked out with 50 Cent, Lil Wayne and Migos in the past, while Aokuso’s favourite boxer, Roy Jones Jr, was escorted out by members of Wu-Tang Clan more than 20 years ago.
In November, Koen Mazoudier was accompanied to the ring by another Sydner rapper, Chillinit, for his rematch with Wade Ryan.
No Limit Promotions CEO George Rose hopes the tradition can continue in Australia in the future.
“You think you plan for everything, but there’s always a curveball,” he told this masthead.
“I love the excitement when you see the big fights in America and rappers walk the fighters to the ring. It makes for a really cool look, that combination of music and sport is always such a really great mesh.
“As we keep doing big events, we’d love to be able to keep meshing the music and fighting. Hopefully we are at a point soon where we can do that.
“We might just have to lean into Lee Kernaghan instead of OneFour.”
Aokuso’s change in walkout music plans come as his adviser Fidel Tukel was banned by the NSW Combat Sports Authority over previous links to the Comanchero bikie gang.
Formerly a Comancheros president, Tukel officially gave up his patch in 2016 to focus on family and boxing.
Tukel, who has relocated to Queensland, is allowed to train fighters in other states, but is banned from holding an official registration in New South Wales, meaning he can attend Wednesday’s fight, but can’t work Aokuso’s corner.
The four-fight boxing card, headlined by Aokuso and Quinlan, will be televised live from 8pm on Fox Sports and Kayo.
YOUSSEF DIB EYEING UP ALL-AUSTRALIAN LIGHTWEIGHT WORLD TITLE FIGHT WITH GEORGE KAMBOSOS
Youssef Dib is gunning for an all-Australian lightweight world title showdown with George Kambosos within the next 12 to 18 months.
‘Uwee’ Dib, younger brother of former world champion Billy, fights the dangerous Miles Zalewski in Sydney on Wednesday night in the biggest test of his 19-fight professional career to date.
Set for the undercard of Paulo Aokuso’s light-heavyweight showdown with Renold Quinlan, it’s the biggest stage Dib has fought on thus far, and shapes as a potential path towards the all-Australian blockbuster against Kambosos.
Former unified lightweight world champion Kambosos fights Englishman Maxi Hughes in the US this weekend, with an IBO world title and an IBF eliminator on the line.
Current unified lightweight world champion, Devin Haney, who beat Kambosos twice last year, is said to be moving up to super-lightweight, meaning all the belts at 135-pounds will be up for grabs.
Enter Dib, whose fight with Zalewski is for the IBF Australasian lightweight belt.
“We know George Kambosos is going to be fighting for an IBF eliminator, and this kid’s fighting for an IBF regional title which will push him further up the rankings,” Billy Dib told this masthead.
“If George happens to be in a position to fight for the IBF title – which is the way it’s looking – and if Youssef can get high enough in the rankings, then why can’t it happen in the next 12 to 18 months?”
Dib is coming off an entertaining unanimous decision win over Kye MacKenzie in March, and Billy reckons his younger brother is perfectly poised to take Kambosos down.
“You can’t beat a kid like this that’s got his back up against the wall,” Billy said. “He’s young in the sport, and he doesn’t have much wear and tear.
“I believe he has the tools to beat somebody like George Kambosos.”
There has been historical bad blood between the Dib and Kambosos clans going back a decade at least, but Youssef doesn’t need to search back that far for motivation.
He just needs to look at his three-year-old son, Jibreel.
Born premature after just 25 weeks, Jibreel has cerebral palsy and spent the first four-and-a-half months of his life in hospital.
“What he’s been through in his young life definitely spurs me on,” Youssef tells this masthead. “He went through a lot of complications and four-and-a-half-months in hospital is very tough.
“You leave the hospital and you’re going home without your baby. That’s hard as a father, and even 10 times harder for my wife as a mother.
“We put our trust in God and Jibreel fought so hard and came out victorious, thank God.”
With a former world champion uncle and a rising star dad, Jibreel already loves boxing, but is also passionate about basketball.
His eyes lit up when he walked into Monday’s press conference, which was held on an indoor basketball court at Moore Park.
“He doesn’t have a favourite team yet, but he just loves basketball,” Dib says. “He’s always looking for a ball at home, and we’ve got about four balls around the house that he’s always bouncing around. It gets annoying at times, but at the same time it’s a blessing he can do this.”
Bouncing a basketball was well beyond what doctors initially thought Jibreel would be able to do.
“He’s kicking all these milestones that doctors told us he’d never reach,” Dib said. “They told us at one point that he’ll never walk. He’s walking.
“They told us he’ll never talk. Now he’s talking properly and stringing his sentences together, counting backwards and doing things like that.
“He’s proved a lot of people wrong, and now it’s my time to prove people wrong as well. People say I’ve got a padded record or whatever else, but I’m coming to show that we’re a fighting family.
“I’m coming to prove to the public and to the world that I’m ready for this level.”
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Originally published as Aokuso vs. Quinlan: Paulo Aokuso a class above, but can’t stop Renold Quinlan
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