is now readying to throw down against Latimore in what shapes as one of Australian boxing\u2019s most hyped crossover debuts<\/a>.<\/p>\nOnly weeks on from quitting a Storm contract worth $800,000 annually, the 29-year-old is now planning to shake up the Australian heavyweight scene \u2013 starting with his professional debut in Brisbane on January 16.<\/p>\n
And as revealed by Fox Sports Australia on Monday, the former NRL enforcer\u2019s rival for said bout \u2013 which takes place on the undercard of Nikita Tszyu versus Michael Zerafa \u2013 will be cult NRL prop Latimore, who late in his career was playfully dubbed \u2018The GOAT\u2019. <\/p>\n
Wonderfully, it seems two men who made their name in rugby league also carry heat.<\/p>\n
Or sort of.<\/p>\n
And all because Latimore whacked Storm No.9 Smith in the dusters.<\/p>\n
Cameron Smith of the Storm receives attention from the trainer during the round nine NRL match between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the Melbourne Storm at UOW Jubilee Oval on May 6, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause to be completely honest,\u201d Asofa-Solomona shrugs, \u201cI don\u2019t really remember playing against the guy.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly thing I remember is that he was the player punched Cam Smith in the nuts \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Reports from the time suggest it was early in the second half of a game that Dragons would eventually win when, rising to play the ball, Latimore appeared, perhaps accidentally, to whack the testicles of Smith, who immediately dropped to the turf in agony.<\/p>\n
A matter then made worse when Dragons No.9 Cam McInness, at dummy half and noting the marker in more than a little discomfort, then scooted out and over the line to score.<\/p>\n
Afterwards, the bizarre incident created massive headlines everywhere, with Smith claiming foul play while Latimore said he was simply fighting to play the ball, and had little idea there was even an issue until Smith hit the deck.<\/p>\n
Certainly, Asofa-Solomona hasn\u2019t forgotten. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I might have to get him back for that,\u201d he grinned.<\/p>\n
Anything else you remember about Latimore then?<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I know he also used to call himself \u2018The Goat\u2019,\u201d continued the newest signing for Australian promoters No Limit. \u201cI\u2019ve got no idea where that came from \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, given the heights Smith reached in his own stellar career, there are plenty who believe it\u2019s the now retired Queensland and Kangaroo star who most deserves the Greatest Of All Time moniker.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo maybe that\u2019s why [Latimore] thought he could take the title,\u201d Asofa-Solomona laughs. \u201cBecause he punched The Goat in the nuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut mate, you have to pay for stuff like that. What goes around comes around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nelson Asofa-Solomona of the Storm celebrates with teammate Cameron Smith after scoring a try during the Round 24 NRL match between the Manly Sea Eagles and the Melbourne Storm at Lottoland in Sydney, Saturday, August 31, 2019. (AAP Image\/Brendon Thorne)Source: AAP<\/p>\n
While Latimore is now seven years retired from the NRL, he is also undefeated in two fights as a heavyweight \u2013 one in the professional ranks, and a second on the annual Podcast Royale fight event.<\/p>\n
But as for how much of either NAS has watched?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started,\u201d he says, \u201cbut turned it off after 10 seconds\u201d.<\/p>\n
Not impressed?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just truly believe the focus should be on me,\u201d the former Stormer continues. \u201cOn what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously he has been in the boxing ring before, so you\u2019ve gotta give respect.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m doing a lot of good work with Team Ellis, really knuckling down on the basics, so that\u2019s why I\u2019m wanting to stay focused on myself.<\/p>\n
Asked about the hype surrounding his professional debut, and the man who played rugby league above 130kg continued: \u201cLook, I\u2019m not a big media guy, and I don\u2019t like to talk trash.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first spoke with the Rose boys about coming across, I just said \u2018look I\u2019m going to me\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cT old them I\u2019m not going to talk trash, or say things that are out of line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t sit right with me or my morals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people do respect those who can be themselves, and the No Limit boys are very accepting of all that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Storm train without Asofa-Solomona | 01:06<\/p>\n
And as for the reception he expects inside the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in a few weeks?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure there are some boxing purists out there who don\u2019t want to see me fight,\u201d he continues. \u201cBut it\u2019s going to not only bring a lot of eyes to the sport, but also a lot of positive stuff, too. I can also guarantee those who tune in will be entertained.\u201d<\/p>\n
And all of this too, fuelled in part by a Jubilee Oval sack whack eight years ago.<\/p>\n
Speaking immediately after the 2018 incident blew up, Latimore immediately claimed the incident was accidental contact.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I was fighting in the play-the-ball,\u201d the prop said. \u201cI [only] knew something happened when he was on the deck.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re trying to play the ball as quick as you can. I saw Cam on the ground and [then] did try to apologise at the scrum but he was in a fair bit of pain.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Smith was clearly fuming at the incident, Latimore said there was no malice in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can look at my history, it\u2019s not in my nature,\u201d he continued. \u201cAt the time I was trying to get a quick play-the-ball and Cam tries to slow the play-the-ball down a fair bit \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Explaining things after the game, Smith said: \u201cI got hit in the very, very sensitive parts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quizzed on whether it was accidental, he said: \u201cWell, I thought I was in a position in the tackle where I can\u2019t really get caught up in any sort of stray elbows and knees, put it that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t remember ever falling off a tackle in that position that close to the tryline. I don\u2019t think I ever have in my entire career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe referees obviously didn\u2019t see anything and they didn\u2019t feel there was any sort of foul play, so that\u2019s the way it went.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nelson Asofa-Solomona is chasing payback for a \u2018sack whack\u2019. Although not on him. No, we\u2019re talking about a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-197811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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