{"id":674182,"date":"2026-05-16T06:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/674182\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T06:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:29:10","slug":"former-nrl-props-set-for-boxing-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/674182\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NRL props set for boxing battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former NRL<\/a> enforcers Nelson Asofa-Solomona<\/a> and George Burgess<\/a> are officially set to settle their simmering feud in the boxing ring, with the pair confirmed to fight on June 24.<\/p>\n

Asofa-Solomona departed the Melbourne Storm<\/a> last year after a 215-game career, while Burgess finished his Rugby League<\/a> career in 2022 at the St. George Illawarra Dragons after playing 149 games for South Sydney and an eight-game Super League<\/a> stint.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The fight was announced on Saturday during the NRL<\/a> Magic Round<\/a>, with tensions immediately flaring as both ex-players came face-to-face during the launch.<\/p>\n

The bout has been brewing for months, after Fox Sports reports first emerged in January that the pair were on a collision course in what shapes as one of the biggest ever rugby league crossover fights.<\/p>\n

Asofa-Solomona revealed he has not forgotten an incident involving Burgess after his first professional boxing victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember exactly what happened after my first fight,\u201d Asofa-Solomona said to Fox Sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d just had my first professional win, and was trying to celebrate with my family and my people.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut George decided that was the moment to jump in, start carrying on and try to make the whole thing about himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took that personally. I haven’t forgotten it, and he’s going to have to answer for it now.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s been talking for months, questioning me, questioning who I’ve fought and acting like I’m some sort of fake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut once the bell rings … this isn’t a footy field, and this isn’t Hollywood. There’s nowhere to hide in there, and no one is coming to save you.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wanted my attention, and now he’s got it. On June 24, I’m going to make him regret stepping in front of me that night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burgess, never one to back down from a confrontation, was equally confident when addressing the looming showdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cNelson’s built this image around being the scariest bloke in the room,\u201d Burgess said to Fox Sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut on June 24, we find out what happens when someone the same size finally stands in front of him and fires back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m going to knock out the hype-train.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fight marks another surprising post-football venture for Burgess, who has recently turned his attention toward acting under the guidance of Hollywood star Russell Crowe.<\/p>\n

Burgess is set to appear alongside Crowe in the upcoming MMA film ‘Beast’, as he continues to explore life beyond rugby league.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former NRL enforcers Nelson Asofa-Solomona and George Burgess are officially set to settle their simmering feud in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-674182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674182","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=674182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}