fought, and lost, against then rising star Tim Tszyu.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cIt was around that time they started trying to match me and Hardman,\u201d Camilleri explained. \u201cAnd he actually reached out, messaged me saying: \u2018Hey man, do you want to fight?\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I was more than happy to fight him. Said, \u2018yeah beautiful\u2019 …\u201d<\/p>\n
But then, Camilleri says, he got a call from the matchmaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they were only offering five thousand dollars,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d just come off fighting Tim Tszyu. And for a lot more than that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I said \u2018no\u2019. And that\u2019s when Issac turned on me. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe said \u2018you f***ing b***h, when I see you in person I\u2019ll smack you\u2019 \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Joel CamilleriSource: SuppliedIBC HardmanSource: Supplied<\/p>\n
To which Hardman, now six years on, says what?<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, sounds exactly right,\u201d he laughed when contacted this week. \u201cIt all happened when Tim Tszyu was fighting Jeff Horn, and I wanted us to be the co-main.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted the fight. But then Camilleri started saying he had been lowballed.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Laughs] Thing is, I was offered five grand myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s why I was thinking \u2018c\u2019mon fight me you weasel\u2019. I was thinking if he was so confident of beating me, he could go on to make more money anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack then, I was young and na\u00efve. Didn\u2019t really understand the business side of boxing \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
So when you look back now?<\/p>\n
\u201cI can appreciate him declining,\u201d he says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t fight me for five grand, either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Camilleri, meanwhile, says now that he was surprised by Hardman\u2019s response.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause there had been no bad blood between us at that point,\u201d he continued. \u201cIn fact, when I\u2019d first moved up to Brisbane sometime earlier, he actually suggested I go join up with his trainer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said how he\u2019d been watching me fight, supported me and wanted me to train with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then when the offer came in, I said \u2018mate, I\u2019m not taking five grand for a fight\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he started calling me a f***ing coward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said \u2018mate, go back to your matchmaker and ask why he would be such a goose, offering me five grand\u2019. But he kept going. Saying \u2018bro, what until I f***ing see you, I\u2019m going to crack yah\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fight of the year!? Hardman v Vaotuua | 13:32<\/p>\n
Eventually, things boiled over when the pair crossed paths backstage at a local show.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I didn\u2019t give a f***,\u201d Camilleri continued. \u201cIf that\u2019s who you think you are, OK, when you see me try and crack me.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo next time I saw him, we were backstage at the fights in Brisbane.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve looked at him, he looked at me and stood up \u2026 and then, yeah, people quickly jumped in between us to split us up. I said \u2018why are you so insecure?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
So as for how Hardman recalls the incident playing out?<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time I was gung ho,\u201d he laughs. \u201cWanted to fight King Kong.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I did call him a f***ing coward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was also another incident [weeks earlier] where he thought I was spraying one of his sponsors online. I wasn\u2019t, but he then put a big thing up on Facebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo eventually I saw him at a boxing show where he was working commentary. He was with some people, so I walked up and said \u2018listen here c***, this is real life, not Instagram \u2026 so be careful with what you\u2019re saying\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe then stepped towards me and said something like \u2018I\u2019m not scared of you\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just flew in, grabbed him by the throat, and said \u2018this is real life c***, actions come with consequences\u2019 …\u201d<\/p>\n
Which, both men agree, is when it was all broken up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was never going to hit him but that\u2019s what happened,\u201d Hardman continues. \u201cWe\u2019ve had some back and forth on social media since — he\u2019s the Camel Toe now — but honestly, I have no qualms with the guy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve matured, I\u2019m a dad now \u2026 so either I\u2019m chinning him or he chins me.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pushed on the bad blood between himself and Hardman, Camilleri continues: \u201cBack when all this started, I think he was just lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, Issac isn\u2019t the world\u2019s most intelligent bloke. He\u2019s also a really sensitive bloke who reacts to a lot of stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast few years, he has grown up a lot. He speaks decently now, isn\u2019t so emotional and has found religion.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, look, congratulations. I\u2019ve never hated the guy. I just never understood why he was so immature \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
IBC 05: Hardman v Camilleri | Wednesday September 23 from 7pm AEST | The World\u2019s fastest growing combat sport returns with a showdown for the ages, as Isaac Hardman takes on veteran boxer Joel Camilleri in the Gold Coast. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\nWhile Hardman has already fought several times with the IBC, Camilleri will be making his debut in the new sport.<\/p>\n
Better, the boxer said he will, in victory, continue to throw down in both sports.<\/p>\n
Already, Camilleri has a December showdown booked against rising talent Mitchell Leek (14-0), and is also actively chasing headliners against the likes of Nikita Tszyu, Michael Zerafa, Ben Mahoney and Callum Peters.<\/p>\n
But as for the brawling challenge?<\/p>\n
\u201cFor anyone who has followed my career, they know for six years from 2012 I was a brawler,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Laughs] And you don\u2019t get a head like this being a pretty boxer.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years there I was getting my nose broken, getting cut open, f***ing head clashes, I fought for a long time like a brawler.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about adapting to the crossover challenge, he continued: \u201cI\u2019ve got one of the highest fight IQs in combat sports, so I\u2019ll assess everything on the night.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Hardman?<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, I know he\u2019s trying to call out all the big names in Australian boxing,\u201d he says of Camilleri. \u201cAnd nobody has put their hand up because he is a tough fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s awkward, has all that herky jerky movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo credit where it\u2019s due.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t knock the bloke anymore. But I am gunna knock the c*** out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the great Australian boxing feud that started over $5000. That, and a throat grab. \u201cAnd now,\u201d Issac…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-901179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901179","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=901179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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