Boxing news 2024: Legend Jeff Fenech raves over rising star Jason Mallia

It takes a lot to impress four time world champion Jeff Fenech, but one Melbourne sensation has done just that, as he sets out to claim an Australian title on Thursday night.

He had prime seats for last month’s Nikita Tszyu v Koen Mazoudier showdown in Sydney, but Jeff Fenech’s mind was somewhere else entirely that night.

“There’s a guy you need have a look at,” he told this masthead as Conor Wallace and Jerome Pampellone threw haymakers in the opening round of their slugfest. “Great young fighter, tattoos everywhere.

“He’s gonna be good – trust me.”

Just hours earlier, Fenech had taken rising welterweight star Jason Mallia (8-0) through a training session in the gym at the back of his house.

An audience at Fenech’s Five Dock hurt locker has become something of a pilgrimage for up-and-coming Aussie boxers, and the 29-year-old Mallia soaked it all up.

Fenech was impressed.

So much so that he was still raving about the tatted up kid from Melbourne at the fights later that night.

Jason Mallia soaks up a session with Jeff Fenech in Sydney last month. Picture: Supplied/Instagram

“I showed him some stuff, we talked and he took it all in,” Fenech said of that session. “Then I gave him some hard work as well.

“There’s no use in doing the hard work if you’re doing it wrong.

“He’s very, very good and that time I spent with him, he was so zoned in.”

Mallia takes on Ben Horn – Jeff’s brother – tonight in Melbourne for the Australian welterweight title as he kicks off the next stage of his professional career.

The card will be broadcast on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports as Will Tomlinson’s Wildfighter Promotions works in conjunction with No Limit Boxing.

Fenech says he hopes to work with his fellow Maltese fighter again one day.

Fenech in his gym. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“I always tell people one thing: ‘If it feels good, it is good’ and he was loving it,” Fenech said of their session. “He was asking if he could come back and help and I will, because he’s a good kid.

“I enjoy it when I know someone’s loving it, and that was him. The only way to get better is when you’re doing the right thing all the time.

“I’ll help him any day and my door’s always open, he’s a beautiful kid. He’s got a big future in front of him. Huge.”

Elsewhere on tonight’s card, Luke ‘Lucky Punch’ Gersbeck (7-0-1) takes on Lilo Telepe (4-0) in a super-welterweight bout that could propel the Melbourne fighter above Michael Zerafa and into a fight with Nikita Tszyu.

Gersbeck was ringside for Tszyu’s September win over Mazoudier and was impressed with what he saw.

The 30-year-old has done rounds with Zerafa too, but is picking Tszyu to win if they ever step into the ring.

Meanwhile, Billy Polkinghorn (3-0) – one of the brightest prospects in the sport – is backing up against Wilber Carame just three weeks after beating Michael Reynolds on the Tszyu-Mazoudier undercard.

Polkinghorn has become known as ‘the homeless boxer’ after revealing he has been sleeping on a mate’s couch since relocating to Brisbane from Perth to pursue his boxing dreams earlier this year. He hopes another win or two might afford him the luxury of buying his own bed or even an apartment of his own.

Originally published as Boxing news 2024: Legend Jeff Fenech raves over rising star Jason Mallia