Nelson Asofa-Solomona has been slammed after demanding Jarrod Wallace remove his shirt during a crazy No Limit weigh in show, with the Queensland Origin retiree declaring afterwards: “F*** me, he tried to take it off the c***”.
The fiery heavyweight exchange came as Australia’s Tim Tszyu also failed to shake the hand of his undefeated Albanian rival – and right before promising to leave American megastar Errol Spence Jnr “shook” ahead of their $15 million showdown.
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As part of a crazy Saturday inside the Wollongong Entertainment Centre, hometown hero Sam Goodman also had to be separated from his Argentinian rival by security, with the pair engaging in a physical altercation during their own fiery face off.
But undeniably the greatest chaos came when Asofa-Solomona – aka Australia’s new crossover star – squared off with Wallace, who has already admitted to losing 16kg for Sunday’s footy fight.
Asked initially for his thoughts by Main Event host Ben Damon, Wallace took aim at the former Melbourne Storm prop and his entourage for having travelled to both Sydney and Wollongong events this week by private aeroplane.
“But no private jets can save you now,” he declared.
To which, when given the microphone himself after weighing in, the Storm premiership winner replied: “We’ve landed the plane … now we land the punch on his f***ing chin”.
There was then further drama after Wallace initially failed to take his shirt off when hitting the scales for the ceremonial weigh-ins, with a shirtless Asofa-Solomona quickly demanding he do exactly that for the face offs.
When Wallace obliged, the fighter dubbed ‘Big Nasty’ then playfully whacked him several times in the stomach, as if to suggest the former Maroons prop was carrying a little extra padding around his middle.
For the record, Wallace weighed in at 119.56kg, while NAS was 134.46kg.
Asked afterwards about what, specifically, Asofa-Solomona had said about his shirt during their exchange by the scales, Wallace said: “F*** me, he tried to take it off the c***.
“But he’s throwing stones in glass houses, I can tell you that much, bro.”
And as for what was said between the pair?
“There wasn’t actually much,” he grinned. “It probably looked a lot more aggressive, but it was just both of us going ‘we’re f***ing ready here’.
“That’s it.
“He said ‘I hope you’re ready’. And I said ‘I wouldn’t be f***ing standing here in front of you if I wasn’t’.
“I’m excited.
“The hype and excitement of that then, “I could’ve gone out there and f***ing jumped in the ring then. It was mad.”
Originally published as ‘F*** me’: Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s demand in crazy weigh-in scenes