{"id":127229,"date":"2025-09-08T07:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T07:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/127229\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T07:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T07:02:13","slug":"mistreated-crippling-financial-burden-nearly-ended-boxing-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/127229\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mistreated\u2019: Crippling financial burden nearly ended boxing star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following a promising amateur career and a breakout performance at the Tokyo Olympics, the Mt Druitt-born fighter seemed destined for great things. <\/p>\n

But three years after his professional debut, Aokuso has had just one fight in the past 18 months as he said he was \u201cmistreated and misguided\u201d following a series of disruptions outside the ring. <\/a><\/p>\n

The super-talented southpaw, nicknamed Sweet P, will return to pay-per-view on the undercard of Liam Paro\u2019s world title eliminator against David Papot in Brisbane on September 18. <\/p>\n

It marks a comeback to the big time after a year in the wilderness.<\/p>\n

The light-heavyweight prospect says the lowest moment came when he was left nearly broke just before Christmas last year after a string of misfortune and broken promises.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter my last fight, I had my son\u2019s birthday, I had my Mrs\u2019 birthday and had Christmas,\u201d the 28-year-old tells Code Sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I had nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just me and my negative bank account.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m actually grateful for those times now, because it made me want it more and work even harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I laugh at that stuff. Just like when we used to get hidings when we were little, but now we just laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worse still, Aokuso had celebrated the birth of his second child just weeks before his most recent bout in November. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was actually in hospital for two weeks straight because my missus was giving birth to my second child,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd this was only four weeks before the fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I didn\u2019t train, because I was at the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen afterwards, it was just negative. It\u2019s just about enjoying those times and being happy when you have nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had my family, my kids, my mum and dad and my siblings. What else do I need?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat helped me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aokuso was one of the hottest prospects in Australian boxing after his impressive performance at the Tokyo Olympics, and had five professional fights in 15 months under the No Limit banner.<\/p>\n

In mid-2023, he split with No Limit to go his own way, <\/a>before changing teams for a second time last year.<\/p>\n

It was then that he realised he was heading in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like to badmouth too many people, but I\u2019ll just say I\u2019ve been mistreated and misguided by people,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is what it is. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known for a long time that everyone in boxing just cares about the paycheck, and no one really cares about what\u2019s best for the fighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just grateful to be with a good team now. I\u2019ve got my management Cash Flow, and my trainers, Pad Flow and they\u2019ve been looking after me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aokuso re-signed with No Limit earlier this year, and will make his long awaited return to PPV boxing next week. <\/p>\n

Despite all the ups and downs, he says he wouldn\u2019t change a thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m actually grateful,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just about making the right moves in boxing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve just gotta have a good, strong team, and if you don\u2019t have a strong team, you will fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s what happened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now through the worst moments, Aokuso is preparing to fight late-notice Uzbek knockout artist Shukhrat Abdullaev on September 18 at Pat Rafter Arena.<\/p>\n

Abudllaev is 5-0 and steps in for Atlanta-based fighter Casey Dixon, who had visa issues after spending time in prison, where he taught fellow inmates \u2013 including rap superstar Meek Mill \u2013 how to box.<\/p>\n

For Aokuso, that\u2019s all just noise as he prepares for his comeback.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to get one more in before the end of the year and I just want to grind and train,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve got a tougher opponent now, he\u2019s number one in Uzbekistan, and I just want to be known as one of those fighters who love taking the hard fights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want everyone to say, \u2018There\u2019s this one guy in Australia that takes every fight, and that\u2019s Sweet P\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want everyone to see me as someone who just fights the best of the best.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following a promising amateur career and a breakout performance at the Tokyo Olympics, the Mt Druitt-born fighter seemed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[54820,1724,89010,64,63,689,2802,802,63427,3534,28350,89012,651,89020,14865,89011,89006,34573,2105,89019,89008,15708,89017,89018,89015,36720,56535,18827,89014,673,677,28365,701,89013,665,85,89016,670,89009,72978,27650,89007],"class_list":{"0":"post-127229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-amateur-career","9":"tag-asia","10":"tag-atlanta-based-fighter","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-australian-boxing","15":"tag-boxing","16":"tag-boxing-career","17":"tag-breakout-performance","18":"tag-brendan-bradford","19":"tag-brightest-prospects","20":"tag-brisbane","21":"tag-casey-dixon","22":"tag-central-asia","23":"tag-crippling-financial-strain","24":"tag-david-papot","25":"tag-financial-strain","26":"tag-getty-images-inc","27":"tag-hottest-prospects","28":"tag-impressive-performance","29":"tag-jenny-evans","30":"tag-late-notice-replacement","31":"tag-late-notice-uzbek-knockout","32":"tag-lowest-moment","33":"tag-mark-evans","34":"tag-mark-kolbe","35":"tag-meek-mill","36":"tag-negative-bank-account","37":"tag-new-south-wales","38":"tag-oceania","39":"tag-professional-fights","40":"tag-queensland","41":"tag-rap-superstar","42":"tag-spending-time","43":"tag-sports","44":"tag-super-talented-southpaw","45":"tag-sydney","46":"tag-uzbek-knockout-artist","47":"tag-uzbekistan","48":"tag-world-title-eliminator","49":"tag-worst-moments"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}