Former England international George Burgess was saved by his own corner as the towel was thrown in on his boxing debut against ex-NRL star Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
Asofa-Solomona walked away from a lucrative NRL career with the former Melbourne Storm enforcer hanging up the boots at the end of the 2025 season to move into a career in professional boxing.
In what was his third professional fight, the Kiwi took on former England international George Burgess on the undercard of the world title fight between Northern Ireland’s Lewis Crocker and Australia’s Liam Paro.
The fight card held in Brisbane had the clash between Burgess and Asofa-Solomona as the co-main event and after weeks and months of heated rivalry, the pair finally got to grips with each other.
In an ugly fight for the purist but an entertaining one for the paying fans, Asofa-Solomona won by TKO in the third round as Burgess’ corner threw the towel in following a barrage of punches that left the Englishman clinching his opponent to try and buy time.
The fight had been scheduled for four three-minute rounds but the premature ending ensures Asofa-Solomona keeps up his 100% record and moves to 3-0 as he hopes to become the latest former NRL star to convert to boxing, just as Sonny Bill Williams and Paul Gallen have in the past.
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Tributes paid to Jai Arrow after NRL heavyweight clash
Speaking after the win, Asofa-Solomona paid tribute to his opponent as well as Jai Arrow, Burgess’ former teammate at South Sydney Rabbitohs who has sadly been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.
Stood side by side with Burgess, Asofa-Solomona said: “I want to acknowledge Jai Arrow. I know he’s going through a tough time and I’m pretty sure he was in both of our hearts around camp.”
Burgess added: “Yeah, definitely. We’ve been fighting but he’s fighting a bigger fight than us and we’re all behind him. We’re going to stop this disease, Motor Neurone Disease is terrible.”
The pair then offered to auction off their shorts with all proceeds going to either MND charities or directly to Arrow.
Speaking after the loss, Burgess admitted: “That was not bad for my first fight. Big punches, big opponent, I took a few but got a few back. Plenty to work on and I really love the sport of boxing so thanks to NAS for jumping in with me for my first fight.”
Asofa-Solomona would end the night by calling out a number of other current or former NRL stars with Matt Lodge, Curtis Scott and Paul Gallen all called out by the Kiwi heavyweight.
Clubbing right hand from Asofa-Solomona, the towel comes in… and he catches it! 😆#CrockerParo | Live now on DAZN ▪️ pic.twitter.com/Vjgk4J5Wu8
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) June 24, 2026
