Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nBowie Tupou.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
Tupou, however, has other plans, and suggested as much after the two men faced off for the first time in Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Asked about Teremoana having already been declared a future world champion by UK promoter Eddie Hearn, Tupou told Fox Sports Australia: \u201cLook, it\u2019s his team and they can hype him up as much as they want to.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he\u2019s still young.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019ve got 20 years\u2019 experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know they think I\u2019m old, and have probably tried to assess my power and aggressiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what I will say is that back when I was living and competing in America, I fought every single guy required to get to the top (and into world title contention).<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that\u2019s not like here.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere in Australia, you can move guys around to get them to the top. Have them take easy fights.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I eventually came home and realised what was happening, that shocked me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said to my wife \u2018I\u2019ve been in America and fought everyone, got beat up, and got myself to the top\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut here, they know how to work their way around.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, yes, you can do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then when it comes time to take on a real fighter, your guy is going to get hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to suffer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s because you\u2019ve babied him from day one.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to put your guy into the deep water, let him find out if he really is at that level.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat way too, you\u2019ll be respected.<\/p>\n
\u201cFind out if you can really be a champion \u2026 not trying to take some back door to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bowie Tupou and Teremoana Jnr face off for the first timeSource: Supplied<\/p>\n
Initially tipped for an NRL career with Penrith, Tupou surprisingly switched to boxing and during a long career has trained with the likes of Johnny Lewis, Jeff Fenech and even spent a considerable stint in the United States.<\/p>\n
The former leaguie is also no stranger to big finishes inside the boxing ring, among them a scary 2019 KO that left opponent Randall Rayment out cold for what seemed an eternity.<\/p>\n
Apart from becoming world ranked under Fenech, Tupou has also been in the ring with notable heavyweights like Joseph Parker, Malik Scott and Bryant Jennings.<\/p>\n
Based Stateside throughout the early 2000s, where he trained with the likes of Justin Fortune and Roger Mayweather, the powerful Sydneysider was also one of Alex Leapai\u2019s main sparring partners when challenging Wladimir Klitschko for the world heavyweight title.<\/p>\n
While now aged 43, Tupou still shapes as arguably the toughest test of Teremoana\u2019s undefeated career.<\/p>\n
Asked his reaction when offered the 2024 Olympian, and fella described as one of the nation\u2019s most avoided fighters, Tupou grinned: \u201cI said \u2018yes\u2019 straight away.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure, he\u2019s a younger fighter who has been knocking out everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, his fights don\u2019t even pass what? First or second round?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s tall, powerful, has the leverage \u2026 but I\u2019ve been fighting 20 years.<\/p>\n
Exciting Australian heavyweight prospect Teremoana JnrSource: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019ll be using all that experience to take him deeper than he\u2019s ever been. Then see if he can handle it there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teremoana Jnr, meanwhile, agreed that Tupou will be the toughest test of his brief, albeit exciting, career.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a guy who has been boxing since I was eight years old,\u201d the now Brisbane-based fighter said. \u201cYou look at his resume, he\u2019s had 29 fights. So he\u2019ll definitely know a few tricks that I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also know he has a lot of power.<\/p>\n
Aussie delivers ‘SCARY’ round 1 KO | 00:29<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s originally from the island of Tonga and they all have power over there.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m looking forward to the challenge<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I\u2019m really looking forward to sharing the ring with someone boasting that experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m here to prove a point.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really believe it\u2019s time for the young guns to come up.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian heavyweight Bowie Tupou has promised to test the growing headlines surrounding undefeated Olympian Teremoana Jnr, reminding how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[2095,64,63,689,215997,294790,294789,802,2742,651,9915,294786,294782,294780,294785,27662,2781,17734,294781,647,2782,2041,2067,677,701,294778,294777,294784,294787,284116,85,273662,294779,2614,294783,660,294788,28370],"class_list":{"0":"post-605774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","12":"tag-australian-heavyweight","13":"tag-australian-heavyweight-prospect","14":"tag-bowie-tupou","15":"tag-boxing","16":"tag-boxing-ring","17":"tag-brisbane","18":"tag-eddie-hearn","19":"tag-exciting-australian-heavyweight","20":"tag-growing-headlines","21":"tag-heavyweight-veteran","22":"tag-heavyweights-face","23":"tag-jeff-fenech","24":"tag-johnny-lewis","25":"tag-joseph-parker","26":"tag-malik-scott","27":"tag-melbourne","28":"tag-nick-walshaw","29":"tag-north-america","30":"tag-northern-america","31":"tag-oceania","32":"tag-queensland","33":"tag-randall-rayment","34":"tag-real-fighter","35":"tag-roger-mayweather","36":"tag-single-guy","37":"tag-sparring-partners","38":"tag-sports","39":"tag-teremoana-teremoana","40":"tag-toughest-test","41":"tag-united-states-of-america","42":"tag-veteran-australian-heavyweight","43":"tag-victoria","44":"tag-world-heavyweight-title","45":"tag-world-title-contention"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605774","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=605774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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