{"id":453907,"date":"2026-02-02T16:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T16:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/453907\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T16:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T16:37:10","slug":"boxing-mismatch-goes-viral-as-fans-are-left-shocked-with-28-year-old-who-has-just-turned-pro-battering-tiny-veteran-39","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/453907\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing mismatch goes viral as fans are left shocked with 28-year-old who has just turned pro battering tiny veteran, 39"},"content":{"rendered":"

By MICHAEL PAVITT, SPORTS REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 06:03 EST, 2 February 2026 | Updated: 08:24 EST, 2 February 2026 <\/p>\n

Boxing fans have reacted with shock to a bizarre mismatch as Commonwealth Games medalist Kiaran MacDonald was seen battering a veteran opponent on his professional boxing debut.<\/p>\n

MacDonald featured on the undercard of\u00a0Josh Kelly’s\u00a0IBF light-middleweight title fight against\u00a0Bakhram Murtazaliev on the weekend.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old made his professional bow against Lithuanian veteran\u00a0Marius Vysniauskas, 39.<\/p>\n

While it is common for boxers to begin professionally by facing a journeyman opponent, fans were quick to point out the mismatch between the pair.<\/p>\n

MacDonald appeared to be towering over his opponent in the ring, with footage showing him dishing out a battering to the veteran.<\/p>\n

Despite the obvious height disparity,\u00a0Vysniauskas is listed as being taller on BoxRec at 5ft 6in compared to MacDonald’s 5ft 5in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Fans <\/p>\n

Fans mocked the mismatch between\u00a0Kiaran MacDonald, right, and veteran Lithuanian fighter\u00a0Marius Vysniauskas on the weekend<\/p>\n

\"MacDonald, <\/p>\n

MacDonald, 28, was seen battering his opponent during the contest with fans quick to highlight their difference in height<\/p>\n

\"MacDonald \"Vysniauskas <\/p>\n

MacDonald earned his first professional win while\u00a0Vysniauskas has now lost 28 straight fights<\/p>\n

Fans took to social media to question the matchmaking for the bantamweight contest.<\/p>\n

One fan questioned ‘Whose Dad is he fighting?’ while another wrote ‘Couldn’t they have gotten a much smaller and much older opponent for this fight????’<\/p>\n

‘This fight is an exhibition right? There’s no way they put this old short dude against this kid and sanctioned it,’ a third wrote.<\/p>\n

Another simply put ‘Crazy matchmaking here.’<\/p>\n

MacDonald would ultimately earn a points victory over\u00a0Vysniauskas, with the Lithuanian fighter making it to the bell.<\/p>\n

‘Fair play to that lad, he can take a punch,’ one fan commented in response.<\/p>\n

While the result gave Commonwealth Games silver medalist MacDonald his first professional victory, it continued a staggering run of consecutive defeats for\u00a0Vysniauskas.<\/p>\n

Vysniauskas had begun his career with three straight wins, but has since lost 28 fights in a row.<\/p>\n

The veteran has been a regular in the ring, notably fighting\u00a0five times in six months back in 2024.<\/p>\n

The main event would ultimately see\u00a0Kelly earn the IBF light-middleweight title by beating\u00a0Murtazaliev by majority decision.<\/p>\n

Share or comment on this article:
\n Boxing mismatch goes viral as fans are left shocked with 28-year-old who has just turned pro battering tiny veteran, 39<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By MICHAEL PAVITT, SPORTS REPORTER Published: 06:03 EST, 2 February 2026 | Updated: 08:24 EST, 2 February 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,100,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-453907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-dailymail","12":"tag-sport","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453907","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=453907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}