TEREMOANA JR: I'M GOING TO BE THE GREATEST HEAVYWEIGHT OF THIS GENERATION
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 14 Dec 2024
Aussie star set for Matchroom debut in Monte-Carlo
Australian Heavyweight hope Teremoana Teremoana is out to impress on his Matchroom Boxing debut tomorrow night after putting pen to paper on a long-term promotional deal with Eddie Hearn last month.
The Olympic star, already 4-0 with four knockouts in the professional ranks, takes on Ukraine's Volodymyr Katsuk in a scheduled six-round contest at Salle Des Étoiles at Sporting Monte-Carlo - live on DAZN.
Teremoana Jr announced himself on the global stage at the Paris 2024 Olympics earlier this summer when he emphatically knocked out Ukraine’s Dmytro Lovchynski in the first round of his opening Olympics bout.
Although he came up short in the quarter-finals to eventual champion, 14-0 Uzbek pro, Bakhodir Jalolov, Teremoana’s signature was highly sought-after following the Games.
“I know what I have to be now to beat the best," said Teremoana Jr. "Now I’ve just got to take this opportunity with both hands and smash everyone in the pros. I believe I’m going to be the greatest Heavyweight of this generation. That’s what I believe. Give me some time to prove it. Let me earn my stripes, and then we’ll go from there.
“This is my new pro debut. It was great to get a date locked in so soon after signing with Matchroom. That’s what I want to do. I just want to fight. When I go overseas for any type of fight, I just embrace the moment. My family, we haven’t done this type of stuff. I’ve just been soaking it all in.
"I’m here to do my job of course. I’m not mucking around. I’m here to sort out the business. I’m a very entertaining fighter. I enjoy getting in the ring and punching on. At the end of the day, I think everyone just likes to see people get knocked out. So, if you want to watch Heavyweight boxing and see people get knocked out – tune in.”
Life could have turned out differently for Teremoana Jr if he had stuck with playing rugby as a boy. Or he could have pursued his teenage ambition to own a plumbing business after qualifying in his native Brisbane.
After a year of soul searching, Teremoana Jr decided to knuckle down and return to the ring where he made boxing his full-time trade. He hasn’t looked back since, securing his passage to the Olympics by winning the 2023 Pacific Games en route to Paris.
“I was born and raised in Australia. My dad is Cook Islander and my mum is Australian-Scottish. For me to get into boxing, I used to play rugby from the ages 6 to 12 and then after that my dad put me into boxing. I’ve never really enjoyed boxing to be honest. I gave it away at the age of 19 and then pretty much I turned 21 and on my 21st birthday I decided to take on my first name which is Teremoana – since then that gave me a spark.
“I wanted to let the whole world know my grandfather’s name, because that’s who I’m named after. Three days after my 21st birthday I made the decision that I wanted to become a World Champion just to cement his name into history, and that’s pretty much when it started. Four years later I qualified for the Olympics and now we’ve signed with Matchroom.
“I believe Matchroom is one of the best promoters in the world. They have promotions all over the world. They’re starting to branch out to Australia which is also brought a lot of eyes to Australian boxing. This is the best Australian boxing has ever been. I would say to have Jai Opetaia as World Champion, Skye Nicolson as World Champion, Liam Paro as a recent World Champion – so many Aussies out there paving the path for us and inspiring the younger generation as well."
Teremoana Jr vs. Katsuk is part of a huge World Title double-header in Monte-Carlo, Uzbekistan’s former IBF and WBA Super-Bantamweight World Champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9 KOs) attempts to become a two-time World Champion when he takes on Mexican knockout artist Ricardo Espinoza Franco (30-4, 25 KOs) for the interim WBA Super-Bantamweight World Title, Brazilian amateur star turned 5-0 professional Beatriz Ferreira makes the first defence of her IBF Lightweight World Title against France’s former European Champion Licia Boudersa (23-2-2, 4 KOs) and Irish Lightweight contender Gary Cully (18-1, 10 KOs) puts his WBA Continental Title on the line against Rossington’s Maxi Hughes (27-7-2, 6 KOs) in an intriguing Ireland vs. England match-up.
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