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John Hopoate - Source: Photosport -
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A match-up between Australian heavyweight champion John Hopoate and three-time former champion Colin Wilson will head the undercard of the much anticipated David Tua-Shane Cameron fight in Hamilton next month.
David Higgins, director of Duco Events, promoters of the much-anticipated event, says the Hopoate-Wilson bout will "sort out whether Hopoate genuinely deserves to be called Australian heavyweight champion".
Wilson, three times Australian heavyweight champion and a formidable 6'5"southpaw opponent for Hopoate, says he is motivated to "clean up" boxing and "get rid of the pretenders" by sending Hopoate back to the Sydney Rugby League "where he belongs".
The main event between the two New Zealanders, Tua and Cameron, will settle the question of who is the best heavyweight in New Zealand or Australia. The result is likely to determine the careers of both contenders.
The legendary Sugar Ray Leonard has described the Tua-Cameron match-up as "bigger and more exciting than most championship fights".
"You've got two rivals and they are trying to prove who is the toughest on the block," Leonard said in New Zealand last week.
"For Shane Cameron, it's a chance to upset a guy who has been on top of the world. That makes it a great fight, an intriguing fight - absolutely compelling."
Noted Australian boxing manager and promoter Khoder Nasser agrees.
"The excitement around Tua/Cameron will be incredible. This is a fight that would excite anyone who has even a limited knowledge of boxing. It matches the two best heavyweights in New Zealand in a clash the likes of which we haven't seen in this part of the world for more than 20 years."
Like the Mundine-Green fight that captivated Australia a few years back, the Tua-Cameron square-off is only happening after four years of public name-calling, mutual suspicion and precarious negotiation.
The needle has got sharper as the fight date approaches. Tua now calls Cameron "the mountain goat" instead of his preferred ring name of "Mountain Warrior", while Cameron has urged Tua to "stop eating and start training". No love is lost between the two men and October 3 is shaping up as an explosive clash.
The size of the purse finally conceded by the promoters makes this the biggest one-off payment for a sports event in New Zealand. Duco Events have inked a deal with Tua and Cameron guaranteeing each fighter $500,000.
At the age of 37, Tua has knocked out no fewer than four heavyweight world champions: Hasim Rahman, John Ruiz, Michael Moorer and Oleg Maskaev. A veteran of 53 fights, Tua himself has never been knocked out in his professional career, unlike such greats as Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson.
At 31, Shane Cameron is ranked seventh in the world by the WBO but he is seen as an impressive fighter on a fast track to the top. In 24 fights as a professional, he has lost only once.
Seven professional fights have been scheduled for the October 3 card.
