Nelson Asofa-Solomona has been urged to quit the “bulls***” bad blood talk surrounding his professional boxing debut – and while also being tipped to weigh as much as 140kg on fight night.
The declaration comes as Asofa-Solomona’s rival, Jeremy Latimore, has also given his own hilarious take on the NRL ‘sack whack’ incident which – on Kogarah Oval way back in 2018 – is also said to be fuelling eight years of animosity between the pair.
Tszyu vs Zerafa: Bad Blood | Friday 16 January from 7pm AEDT | One of Australian boxing’s most heated rivalries finally hits the ring as Nikita Tszyu defends his family name against Michael Zerafa. Plus former NRL enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s pro boxing debut | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports
Only weeks after walking out on his contract with Melbourne Storm, Asofa-Solomona is now making final preparations for his first outing with Australia’s No.1 promoter, No Limit.
Privately, the former NRL enforcer is said to be genuinely off Latimore, who has long held a reputation as one of rugby league’s good guys.
Apart from drawing widespread interest among NRL fans, the intriguing crossover bout also forms part of a stacked January 16 card topped by the domestic grudge match that is Michael Zerafa versus Nikita Tszyu.
While Asofa-Solomona is giving little away when it comes to his proposed weight for fight night, Latimore is tipping his towering rival to be “around 135, 140 kilos”.
Which is no small thing for a bloke expecting to tip the scales himself at 113kg.
“So I could be giving away over 25 kilos,” Latimore says.
The former St George Illawarra prop has, with a cackle, also offered his own take on the crazy onfield moment which is said to still be dividing the former front-rowers.
Only last week, NAS revealed how part of his motivation for wanting to fight Latimore goes all the way back to a 2018 incident where the then-Dragon allegedly delivered a nut shot on his legendary Storm skipper, Cam Smith.
Early in the second half of a game the Dragons would eventually win 34-14, Smith was rising to play the ball when Latimore appeared to, err, play at the ball of Smith — who immediately dropped to the turf in agony.
The incident was then made infinitely worse when Dragons hooker Cam McInness, at dummy half, and noting Smith down, clutching his dusters, scooted out and over the line to score.
Afterwards, the incident created widespread headlines, with the Melbourne skipper convinced the foul was deliberate.
“And mate, you have to pay for stuff like that,” Big Nelson told us last week. “What goes around comes around.”
Yet when asked about the wayward whack this week, Latimore had a different recollection entirely.
“Mate,” he laughed initially, mounting a case, “I was getting suffocated by Cam Smith’s groin.
“You go back and look at the footage.
“You’ll see Smith thrusting his groin into my face.
“And so I threw an arm up in self-preservation. That’s it.
“The type of guy I am, I’d never do anything like that deliberately. I was only trying to play the ball as quickly as I could.”
With the same speed, Latimore also responded to further allegations from Asofa-Solomona that, afterwards, he also went and awarded himself Smith’s longtime nickname of GOAT – or Greatest Of All Time.
While the now 39-year-old agrees that, yes, he did start carrying the GOAT moniker after that day, he stresses it certainly wasn’t his doing.
“The talk of me calling myself ‘The Goat’ – it’s bulls***,” Latimore laughed. “I never gave myself that name.
“Yes, it was brought up after that game where Smith tried suffocating me with his groin.
“Where trying to get him off, I flicked a hand up and, maybe, collected him.
“But the GOAT name, that was given to me by the guy who does the NRL Roast (Dean Messiter).
“He’s obviously got a strong following on socials, and it stuck.
“But there’s no way I would ever give myself that nickname”.
So as for Big Nelson’s suggestion you did?
“When I saw that mentioned last week, I f***ing laughed,” Latimore continued. “And I do need to correct the bloke because I absolutely didn’t give myself that moniker.
“Sure, sometimes I gee up.
“Or speak about myself in the third person.
“But I always knew exactly where I stood on the NRL food chain.”
So as for Big Nelson carrying a grudge?
“Maybe it’s just a good reflection on me as a person,” Latimore grinned. “It certainly doesn’t seem like there’s much you can scratch up.
“But I dunno.
“Even playing against each other, I think we only ever had the one small run in.
“And look, I’m pushing the memory here but I’m pretty sure I got eye-poked and then, while still on the ground, (Storm winger) Suliasi Vunivalu gave me a good spray.
“So then I was spraying Vunivalu.
“Then he was back into me.
“Then we scored, so I gave him another spray. And that’s when Big Nelson came in, grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and said something like ‘I’d heard you were a smartarse Latimore’.
“But that’s about it, all fairly lighthearted.”
Regarding the GOAT moniker, Latimore went on to explain that not only is ‘Roasty’ responsible – he even has one of the last boots he ever wore in the NRL to prove it.
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Asked to explain, the veteran of over 180 NRL games went on to say how after your last ever first grade appearance, the NRL takes one of your boots, and gold plates it — then presents it back to you on Grand Final day, as part of a tribute to retiring players.
But as for his other boot?
“I gave that to Roasty,” he says.
“And that’s because he’d told me how I was always one of his favourite players.
“And look, maybe he was taking the p***. But we’ve always got along well …”
And as for you and NAS?
“Obviously when the fight was first announced, there were a lot of people doubting me,” Latimore said.
“And, yes, he has a reputation.
“Obviously he gave that bloke in Bali a hiding, and also gave Jarrod Wallace a bit of a touch up in their fight as well.
“So there’s a lot of hype.
“Paul Gallen was previously the big dog in this space — generated plenty of eyeballs — and now Big Nelson is looking to do the same.
“He’s a big guy, big personality and controversy always seems to follow him around.
“So hopefully now I can keep that going … and beat him.”
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