{"id":833881,"date":"2026-07-30T17:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833881\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T17:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:29:11","slug":"huge-boxing-knockout-at-commonwealth-games-as-star-sent-through-ropes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833881\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge boxing knockout at Commonwealth Games as star sent through ropes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A huge first-round knockout has shaken the Commonwealth Games as a young boxer was sent flying through the ropes from a devastating combination.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Wales star Orlando Holley-Sotomi, 22, produced a concussive right hand followed by a left hook, with Lesotho opponent Refiloe Thai collapsing in a heap.<\/p>\n

Watch the huge knockout in the video player above<\/p>\n

The 70kg quarter-final was immediately waved off by the referee as the doctor sprang into action to check on the 21-year-old.<\/p>\n

Moses v Hrgovic | Sunday August 30 from 3am AEST | Moses Itauma will seek to cement his place amid the leading heavyweight contenders when he faces Filip Hrgovic in London on August 30. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n

According to The Sun<\/a>, Thai is \u201cOK after the knockout, but devastated by the defeat\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some boxing fans have taken issue with the knockout for two reasons.<\/p>\n

Firstly, several viewers feel Holley-Sotomi\u2019s left hand was holding Thai \u2014 whose eyes were covered.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the KO, Full House Sport said: \u201dI think that\u2019s poor reffing. Welsh lad has held his arm out, can\u2019t do that. Although the Lesotho lad hasn\u2019t helped his own case.\u201d<\/p>\n

While boxing fan SMD added: \u201cThe guy in blue was covering the other guy\u2019s eyes while hooking his other arm, dirty punch, judges should disqualify.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Brian said: \u201cCheating with the forearm, blinded him so didn\u2019t see the punch coming. S**t reffing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Questions were also raised about the lack of headguards in the wake of the devastating KO.<\/p>\n

Since 2014, a rule change has meant boxers at the Commonwealth Games do not wear headguards for protection.<\/p>\n

Fight fanatic Richard Boadella said: \u201cReally surprised there are no headguards being used. Must be loads of mismatches in the early rounds of the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan Wilson reacted: \u201cMaybe I\u2019m boring but I hate seeing amateur boxing with no headguards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kai<\/p>\n

And Tommochat replied: \u201cWhere are the headguards??\u201d<\/p>\n

But others were impressed by the knockout, with Boxing Muel saying: \u201cSome shot, that,\u201d while Tokkeru responded: \u201cBRUTAL KO.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holley-Sotomi revealed in his post-fight interview that he had worked on the finish.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI watched tape of him and I knew he was open to the backhand, so I just invited him in and used it. He was open to it, so I used it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I had to show class. My corner were saying to calm down, but it is quite hard because the adrenaline is going, there\u2019s just so much going on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A huge first-round knockout has shaken the Commonwealth Games as a young boxer was sent flying through the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[405685,405642,405650,405658,19382,279106,405683,405669,405664,405659,405656,405666,405670,405657,405682,25908,22144,405653,3929,16490,405679,312549,405648,23165,27451,400302,353,3264,396999,16742,47880,405665,58050,405645,405639,43,405681,387296,405678,405660,389807,400267,405634,405640,405641,405674,5822,69780,405671,405684,405654,2022,194032,405651,405635,44,405655,38065,405680,405632,59906,405673,405638,405668,8825,177932,42541,405675,405631,405677,389124,380422,384434,405688,393587,405636,405649,405646,376724,405687,377724,377138,405667,380950,405652,405644,405663,405686,378484,400295,405637,288,382336,378187,405647,405676,41,39,42,40,405661,405633,405662,41313,405643,405672],"class_list":["post-833881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-some-boxing-fans","tag-first-round-ko","tag-s-eyes","tag-s-left-hand","tag-19382","tag-279106","tag-3am-aest-moses-itauma","tag-70kg-quarter-final","tag-a-concussive-right-hand","tag-a-devastating-combination","tag-a-heap-watch","tag-a-huge-first-round-knockout","tag-a-left-hook","tag-a-rule-change","tag-a-young-boxer","tag-action","tag-amateur-boxing","tag-august-30","tag-blue","tag-boxers","tag-boxing-fan-smd","tag-boxing-fans","tag-boxing-muel","tag-brian","tag-brutal","tag-brutal-ko","tag-cheating","tag-class","tag-comm-games","tag-commonwealth-games","tag-dan-wilson","tag-dirty-punch","tag-filip-hrgovic","tag-full-house-sport","tag-headguards","tag-headlines","tag-his-arm","tag-his-condition","tag-his-other-arm","tag-his-own-case","tag-his-place","tag-his-post-fight-interview","tag-his-reports","tag-holley-sotomi","tag-horror-ko","tag-illegal-shot","tag-issue","tag-judges","tag-kayo-sports-according","tag-lesotho-opponent-refiloe-thai-collapsing","tag-loads","tag-london","tag-main-event","tag-mismatches","tag-my-corner","tag-news","tag-no-headguards","tag-order","tag-poor-reffing","tag-protection-fight-fanatic-richard-boadella","tag-questions","tag-ropes","tag-several-viewers","tag-some-shot","tag-sunday","tag-tape","tag-thai","tag-the-21-year-old-moses-v-hrgovic","tag-the-adrenaline","tag-the-backhand","tag-the-commonwealth-games","tag-the-competition","tag-the-defeat","tag-the-devastating","tag-the-doctor","tag-the-early-rounds","tag-the-finish-he","tag-the-forearm","tag-the-guy","tag-the-huge-knockout","tag-the-incident","tag-the-knockout","tag-the-ko","tag-the-lack","tag-the-leading-heavyweight-contenders","tag-the-lesotho-lad","tag-the-other-guy","tag-the-punch","tag-the-referee","tag-the-ropes","tag-the-sickening-knockout","tag-the-sun","tag-the-video-player","tag-the-wake","tag-tokkeru","tag-tommochat","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-two-major-issues","tag-two-reasons-firstly","tag-wales-star-orlando-holley-sotomi","tag-wednesday","tag-welsh-lad","tag-whose-eyes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833881","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=833881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}