Akkawy-Quinlan is off after outrageous weight miss; teams nearly come to blows
Bilal Akkawy’s fight with Renold Quinlan has been cancelled after a wild weigh-in where the two camps nearly came to blows. And that’s just the start of a farcical afternoon for Australian boxing.
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Queensland heavyweight Troy Pilcher has sensationally stepped in on just one day’s notice to replace Bilal Akkawy for Wednesday’s main event bout with Renold Quinlan, despite Quinlan missing weight by an outrageous 4.8kg on Tuesday.
And former NRL star Tevita Pangai Junior, who trains and spars with Pilcher, reckons the 8-0 slugger is primed to score another stunning KO victory.
In wild scenes at Tuesday’s weigh-ins, Akkawy’s furious camp nearly came to blows with Quinlan and his team after the ‘Dunghutti Destroyer’ showed up 20 minutes late and tipped the scales at 90.88kg for the contracted 86kg catchweight fight.
After Akkawy pulled out, No Limit scrambled to find a replacement, with Pilcher – who scored a thunderous knockout of Haze Hepi on the undercard to Tim Tszyu’s win over Carlos Ocampo last year – stepping in to fight Quinlan, even though the 34-year-old had made no attempt to drop the weight.
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There had been rumours for weeks that Quinlan wasn’t taking training seriously, and Pangai Junior says Pilcher will be too much for him.
“Troy has kept fit, he is very disciplined and his style will trouble Quinlan,” Pangai Junior told this masthead.
“I am proud of him, he has been staying fight ready and this is the biggest opportunity of his career.
“I sparred him a few weeks ago. He has helped me for a while and he has gone to a new level since the New Year.
“He has dropped weight and he has some good power in his punches. He has saved the show, I will be tuning in.
“Quinlan is a tough cookie but Troy keeps coming and is really tough. He is war ready. It’s a great match up and he has the fitness to outlast Renold.”
The late changes mean the super-welterweight clash between New Zealand’s Viliami Liavaa and Sydney’s Anton Markovic has been elevated to the main event.
A win for the 6-1 Liavaa will see him likely book a pay-per-view main event bout with Nikita Tszyu in April.
Controversy on the scales in Sydney.
— Aus-Boxing.com (@ausboxing) March 5, 2024
Tomorrow's headliner between Bilal Akkawy and Renold Quinlan is in doubt, after Quinlan missed weight by almost five kilograms.#ozboxing#boxingpic.twitter.com/T9xYeK5Eu9
Earlier on Tuesday, Quinlan looked like he was a no-show to the weigh-ins, before showing up 20 minutes late and out of shape.
Quinlan and Akkawy’s teams nearly came to blows immediately after the weigh-ins.
“Lose the weight. A man’s word is a man’s word,” Mick Akkawy – Bilal’s dad and trainer – fumed as tempers flared. “Don’t tell me to lose f***ing weight.”
Quinlan’s uncle then hit back at Mick.
“Don’t you swear, don’t use that word,” he said. “Don’t come and use that word. I’ll put you under the water.”
Quinlan said he wanted the fight to take place at a higher weight, and was unable to drop the excess kilograms.
“I thought it was at the cruiserweight limit (90.8kg), but they said catchweight at 86, and I was a bit over,” he said.
Akkawy’s camp remained adamant that Quinlan drop the extra weight.
When Quinlan said he wouldn’t be able to get to 86kg, Akkawy’s camp called the fight off.
“He came in almost five kilos over the weight. We agreed to 86, it’s in the contract,” Bilal told this masthead.
“We told him to get the weight off, he said he couldn’t make it and he was already in the sauna, but he said there was no way.
“He said he could try and get to 89kg, but that’s nowhere near 86.
“My trainer, my dad, said it’s not worth it.
“It’s disappointing. Unfortunately there was no penalty in the contract for missing weight, so it just falls apart.
“I never expected that to happen from someone who was a former IBO world champion. Pretty disappointing.
“Not only that, the guy went on social media threatening to end my career. If you’re gonna do that, at least f***ing show up on weight and show some professionalism.
“Show that you’re in form, then start talking.”
Akkawy’s camp would have been willing to agree to fight at a higher weight if they’d known about Quinlan’s struggles earlier.
They would have also been willing to reschedule the fight until after Ramadan, which starts this weekend.
It’s a bitter blow for Akkawy, who has been restricted to just two fights in the last four years due to an ongoing back injury.
He had hoped a win over Quinlan would propel him back into the ranks at light-heavyweight, and was even eyeing up a bout with Brisbane’s Connor Wallace.
But, he said, Quinlan not making the weight made it too risky.
“He’s not an amateur, he’s a former IBO champ, he’s had more than 20 professional fights,” he said.
“He knows what he’s doing. He knows the advantages that he’d have coming in that much heavier.”
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