Former England international George Burgess’ boxing debut ended with a knockout defeat to fellow NRL star Nelson Asofa-Solomona on Wednesday evening.

The 34-year-old retired after a stint in 2022 with St George-Illawarra Dragons, having previously played for Wigan Warriors and South Sydney Rabbitohs throughout an illustrious playing career at the highest level.

But he has now turned his hand to boxing, stepping in the ring for the first time on Wednesday – with ex-Melbourne star Asofa-Solomona his first opponent.

However, it ended with defeat.

Burgess’ boxing bow

Asofa-Solomona is now 3-0 as a professional boxer – though all three of his victories have come against former rugby league players.

Burgess was his third victim on Wednesday after managing to stop the ex-England international in the third round of their contest after busting the prop open.

The fight was eventually stopped, despite Burgess seemingly showing some good touches in the opening round of the fight before NAS took complete control.

He has also beaten Jarrod Wallace and Jeremy Latimore – it remains to be seen whether he will fight another professional boxer next. Both Burgess and Wallace were making their debuts in the ring.

Jai Arrow tributes

But perhaps the most important moment came after the fight, when both men came together to lead tributes to ex-Souths forward Jai Arrow, who has recently been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.

Arrow, a former team-mate of Burgess’, was supported on the night with all proceeds from the fight going to his family and the Fight MND Charity.

In fact, Burgess had a FightMND patch on his ring gear – with his own family having experienced the illness first hand after his father passed away following a battle with MND.

“I want to use this time to acknowledge Jai Arrow,” Asofa-Solomona said immediately after the stoppage. “He’s going through a real tough time.

“We’re out here fighting, but he’s fighting a bigger fight than us,” Burgess continued. “We’re all behind him. We’ve got to stop this disease.. it’s terrible.”

It is unclear whether Burgess will fight again as a professional or whether his foray into the ring on Wednesday was a one-time arrangement. But it appears NAS will go again.