AUSTRALIAN heavyweight Teremoana Teremoana (6-0) has fast become one of the most talked about prospects in the division – his name, look, style, personality and power each aiding the Aussie’s chances of becoming a worldwide fan-favourite in the near future. On the Opetaia-Nyika card, with more eyes on him than ever, the 26-year-old required just 57 seconds to score a sixth knockout in as many fights.
Teremoana recorded four straight knockouts after debuting in December 2020, but a two-year hiatus from the professional scene momentarily halted his progression, although a trip to Paris 2024 did wonders for his reputation and profile.
The pony-tailed powerhouse impressed with the only super-heavyweight knockout of the tournament when tasked with Ukraine’s Dmytro Lovchynskyi in the preliminary round and gave a good account of himself against eventual gold medallist Bakhodir Jalolov in the quarter-final but ultimately fell short.
Since the Olympics, Teremoana has signed with Matchroom Boxing and ended his official two-year spell of professional inactivity with a first-round knockout of Volodymyr Katsuk (5-1) in Monte Carlo, dropping Katsuk on three occasions inside two minutes.
Just three weeks later, Teremoana was today expected to be faced with a tougher test upon his return to Australia, colliding with Germany’s Osasu Otobo (11-1-1) on the Opetaia-Nyika bill in Queensland.
However, Otobo suffered a similarly cruel fate to each of Teremoana’s past five victims and was dismissed by the two-metre monster in less than a minute – a left-hook sending him crashing into the canvas and rendering him unable to beat the referee’s count.
It is expected that Teremoana Jr. will attempt to continue with this encouraging activity throughout 2025 but that we will also be moved relatively quickly, with rumours of a George Kambosos card in Sydney in March offering a viable option for another quick turnaround.
