An ex-AFL star fuelled fight night saw controversial analyst Kane Cornes well beaten by ex-Tigers and Bulldogs star Nathan Brown in the pair’s boxing debuts.
While Cornes unsurprisingly had the cardio advantage he proved no match for Brown’s power, losing a unanimous decision.
“The thing about Kane is he’ll give it in the media, he takes it as well,” Brown said.
“He had me for fitness but my team over there … four months training camp, I’ve really enjoyed it, wanted to pay the sport of boxing some respect so hopefully I’ve done that tonight.”
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Cornes said: “I’ve never been more nervous about anything in my life.
“He got me with some good ones, I thought I was in real trouble at one moment. I’m kinda half-happy I stayed on my feet.”
Brown landed a multi-punch combination just seconds in and quickly unloaded on the Port Adelaide great with another not long later, easily claiming the first round.
“It appears he (Cornes) may not be too hard to hit,” Barry Michael said on commentary.
Cornes was struggling to land any shots of note with Brown showing both more power and more precision; but later in the round the Power champ’s excellent conditioning saw him getting closer to truly threatening the ex-Tiger and Bulldog.
“He’s strugging with the pressure at the moment, he really is tired,” Michael said of Brown.
The third round was much harder to score with Brown clearly exhausted but Cornes likely needing a finish in the final two minutes to avoid a draw or loss.
Again a lack of damage from Cornes’ blows was the problem with Brown doing enough to remain on top even while tired, landing a handful of strong shots.
Earlier on the card two power forwards did battle with Anthony Rocca recording a knockout victory over Corey McKernan.
Rocca, a 242-game star and four-time Collingwood leading goalkicker, took the early advantage with a big shot in the first round and knew he was well on top.
He then connected with a big left hand which would have sent McKernan, a dual Kangaroos premiership player, to the mat before Rocca held him up.
“I hit him flush with it and I knew he went down from it so I tried to hold him up a little bit,” Rocca said.
“We don’t want to hurt anyone. We’re not boxers, we get in here and we try our best. These guys who are coming out – professionals – they work so bloody hard and hopefully we can just give the sport a little bit of credit.”
Aussie boxing great Danny Green praised the act.
“Very classy by Anthony Rocca,” Green said.
“He hurt him in the first round with a shot. Corey, he knows he’s not a boxer, he said that himself. He was out of his depth a bit.
“I was so proud of this bloke by showing such class and grace.”
Later in the night Dale Thomas proved no match for former teammate Dane Swan, easily beaten on all three cards.
“I feel pretty good. I’ve done a fair bit of work. It’s one side of training I enjoy after footy,” Swan said.
“I enjoyed it and I’m pretty relaxed by nature, so I was fine.
“I might get back on the Vegas diet a little bit later.
“It was fun. Obviously, we’re really good mates so I’m not super aggressive by nature, so it’s hard to walk in there and try and punch a mate’s head off.
“We had good fun.”
The Gathering fight night card
Main Event: Jamal Herring (24-4-0) vs. Jackson England (15-3-0) – 10x3min rounds [Super Featherweight] (WBO Global Super Featherweight title)
Mitch Robinson (debut, 87.6kg) vs. Kayne Pettifer (debut, 87.4kg) – 4x2min rounds [Cruiserweight]
Jack Brubaker (17-5-2) vs. In Duck Seo (15-3-2) – 8x3min rounds [Super Welterweight]
Kane Cornes def by Nathan Brown via UD
Joel Camilleri def. Joel Pavlides (5-2-1) via KO
Dane Swan def. Dale Thomas via UD
Alex Leapal Jnr def. Joe Ageli
Anthony Rocca def. Corey McKernan via KO in Round 2
Sergei Vorobev def .Wes Capper
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