Jarrod Wallace caught rival Nelson Asofa-Solomona “off-guard” with a pointed NRL sledge ahead of their blockbuster heavyweight showdown, while Tim Tszyu delivered a frankwarning to Denis Nurja.
Just days out from the stacked Easter Sunday card in Wollongong, Wallace blasted ‘Big Nasty’ for “walking around like he’s Tim Tszyu” as the fighters squared off at Thursday’s official press conference.
Wallace also didn’t hold back as he taunted Asofa-Solomona for falling out of favour with his former rugby league team before deciding to switch to boxing.
“He’s big, but there’s plenty of flaws. (Melbourne Storm coach) Craig Bellamy saw them,” he said at Thursday’s press conference. “That’s why they sacked him.”
Tszyu vs Nurja | Sunday 5 April from 11am AEST | Tim Tszyu looks to continue his boxing resurgence as he takes on Albanian Denis Nurja. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.
Tszyu ready to combat his ‘kryptonite’ | 02:11
“He had an impressive fight [against Jeremy Latimore], but I’m going to take him into deep waters and throw bombs.
“He’s walking around like Tim Tszyu… he gets off a private jet.
“Don’t discount me.”
In response, Asofa-Solomona offered a simple “no-comment” but admitted on Main Event later he was somewhat-stunned by the attack from his rival.
“He must have had some sort of script in his pocket, but it was really good,” he explained afterwards.
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“I was really surprised, it threw me off guard but it was something I couldn’t really reply too – there’s too much collateral damage. But good on him, touche, but 5th of April, he has to pay for that.”
Meanwhile, Tszyu had a largely respectful exchange with his next opponent, unbeaten Albanian Nurja. But the Australian superstar did issue a warning – he knows Nurja has been reviewing his loss against Bakhram Murtazaliev, looking for an edge, and it won’t help.
“All of them watch them Bakhram fight,” he grinned.
“I sleep with my right hand on my chin. I’m well aware that’s what they are thinking. Throwing the left hook. [They think] It’s my kryptonite.
Tszyu afterwards explained exactly why he mentioned the fact.
“I just want to point it out,” he said.
“I’m very well aware of it.”
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