George Burgess is planning a ringside confrontation with Nelson Asofa-Solomona on Sunday, as the former Rabbitohs forward hopes to lock in a big-bopper blockbuster with his one-time footy rival.
Asofa-Solomona takes on Jarrod Wallace on Tim Tszyu’s undercard on Sunday, and Burgess is considered the next in line to face NAS.
That’s a fight that could be held as soon as next month, on a pay-per-view card to be headlined by Nikita Tszyu.
The 2015 Premiership-winner is deep in training, and has been agitating for a shot at ‘Big Nasty’ since their first confrontation in January.
Burgess, who is starring in Russell Crowe’s new MMA movie ‘Beast’, jetted into Sydney on Friday from Queensland, and wasted no time calling Asofa-Solomona out.
“I’m good to go right now, I’ve been training and putting in some work,” Burgess told Code Sports. “I’m gonna go and watch the fights up close and see if he’s improved at all since January.
“He’ll have to recover from his fight with J-Wall though – hopefully he doesn’t get too badly injured.”
Their rivalry kicked off in January when Burgess confronted Asofa-Solomona following his quick-fire knockout of Jeremy Latimore.
The move angered Asofa-Solomona, who felt Burgess was just doing it for the attention.
“I went to see my family and give them a hug and a kiss and here he is coming from the side trying to ignite this fight,” Asofa-Solomona told Code Sports. “I get that, but there’s a time and a place.
“That wasn’t it, and I took that as disrespect.”
That’s not how Burgess remembers it.
“He came up to me and asked for a picture,” he laughed. “I think he wanted a kiss and a hug.”
Speaking to Code later that same night, Burgess said Asofa-Solomona would rarely run at opposing front-rowers and was “scared” of “mixing it with the big boys.”
He doubled down on those comments this week.
“He defended out wide where it was quiet – that was his way,” Burgess said. “I don’t remember being in too many collisions with him.
“I’d go looking for him off kick-offs, but it would always be Dale Finucane or the Bromwich brothers and not so much Nelson.
“When he took kick-off returns, he’d veer into the middle and go to a centre or a halfback at the last minute.”
Asofa-Solomona defended his footy career when asked about Burgess’ comments this week, and said the South Sydney forward has been ducking him.
“I called him out and he went quiet,” he said. “He gave me the seen on Instagram.
“It sounded like he didn’t want to fight.”
Again, that’s not Burgess’ memory.
“I don’t know what that was all about,” he said. “I double checked my Instagram the other day when he said that, and there was nothing there.
“He might have been messaging the wrong person.”
Burgess played 149 times for Souths and made 15 Test appearances for England, before finishing his career with three seasons in the Super League.
He hasn’t had a fight just yet, but is a long-time fan of boxing and was even offered the chance to fight AFL legend Barry Hall in 2019.
The Englishman had just signed a new footy contract and couldn’t accept bout, with Hall eventually fighting Paul Gallen instead.
“I was definitely keen to fight him then, but it just didn’t work out,” he said. “I didn’t want to disrespect my new club.
“Boxing is the hardest sport in the world, in my opinion.
“It’s been enjoyable, I love the training and it’s given me motivation to push the envelope and get back into that warrior mentality.”
Despite all the big talk, Asofa-Solomona still doesn’t know whether Burgess will actually take the fight.
“You can talk about it, but not too many people can be about it,” he said. “Does he really want it? I’m not too sure.
“If he does, he just wants it for the attention.”