Naliva Faces Unbeaten Baker

Sorokoba cruiserweight boxer Filimoni Naliva Jnr is ready to face unbeaten Khalid Bak­er in their showdown at the ICC Exhibition Centre in Sydney, Aus­tralia, tomorrow night.

Naliva flew out of the country on Sunday indicating that he is fit and raring to go.

“I have been training with my brother Savenaca Naliva and I’m hopeful of a good outcome,” he said.

Naliva has six professional fights, with three wins and three losses.

World Boxing Foundation Asia Pa­cific match-maker Simon Naushad said, Fijian boxers are unpredict­able and tough as described by the Australian promoters.

He said just like the effort given to rugby so these athletes are ready to do their best.

“They (promoters) are not wast­ing time in putting up mismatches and pull in fewer crowds.

“They are going for big fights with tickets costing as much as $2000 a table,” he said.

“These boxers also sacrifice a lot in preparing as they under finan­cial constraints. They need our sup­port too.”

In the main supporting bout, un­defeated heavyweight champion Sonny Bill Williams will face Barry Hall.

Suva’s Sebastian Singh fights Bi­lal Akkawy in a cruiserweight bout as one of the undercards.

Meanwhile, Siliveni Nawai lost on a third round technical knockout to Jack Bowen of Australia.

“The promoter was really happy with Nawai but his fight was ru­ined by a cut he had suffered and it had to be stopped.

“It is one of the best fights by a Fi­jian boxer,” Naushad said.

In other results, Nepote Dawad­awa suffered his first loss after he was stopped by Matt ‘The Machine’ Sheehan in the second round.

Labasa’s Saula Raralevu alias Jnr Saula also suffered a third round knockout loss.

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