Former NRL star Paul Gallen tried his best, but ultimately lost a ten round unanimous decision to Kris Terzievski. All three judges scored it 97-92 for Terzievski.
The two boxers fought for the Australian heavyweight title.
“What a warrior man,” Terzievski said. ”You have to go to some deep dark places to get over the line in that fight.”
Gallen, who spent 19 years in the NRL, would not provide an answer on his boxing future.
“It took a little while to turn most of youse around but hopefully I have now and we’ll see what happens next,” Gallen said.
“There’s so many people from the boxing world come up to me tonight, before the fight, saying thank you for everything you’ve done for Australian boxing. That’s something that I’m really proud of. Happy to promote the sport and take it back to where it is at the moment and, fingers crossed, those guys can keep it going.”
Terzievski’s edge in boxing skills were too much for the 40-year-old Gallen, who looked sluggish in the fight.
Gallen’s record dropped down to 12-2-1, while Terzievski moves up to 11-1-1.
Also on the card, the son of a legend, Nikita Tszyu (2-0, 2 KOs) picked up another knockout win as he demolished undefeated Mason Smith in the first round.
The power of Tszyu crumbled Smith. He decked him hard with an uppercut in the closing moments of the first, as the referee waved off the fight.
In other action, Harry Garside (3-0) retained the Australian lightweight title with a seventh round stoppage of Layton McFerran (5-2). Garside suffered a hand injury during the fight, with blood coming from his hand wrap when the fight was over.
And Sam Goodman (11-0, 6 KOs) picked up another win, with a ten round unanimous decision over Fumiya Fuse to capture the IBF inter-continental and WBO Oriental super bantamweight titles.