James Cooney of Daily Mail Australia and Melissa Woods of the Australian Associated Press
Updated on 2024-07-30 08:34 and 2024-07-30 08:45
- Teremoana Teremoana brutally knocks out Dmytro Lovcinskiy
- Tall Australian man changes name to honour grandfather
- He made history as the first Australian to win an Olympic super heavyweight bout.
After scoring a brutal knockout victory in his Olympic opener, Teremoana Teremoana Jr. has vowed to inflict the same punishment on defending champion Bakodir Yarolov.
With current WBA, WBO, WBC and 2012 Olympic heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk looking on at the North Paris Arena, Teremoana made quick work of fellow Ukrainian compatriot Dmytro Lovchinskiy.
With this achievement, he became the first Australian to win an Olympic super heavyweight bout.
The round of 16 clash was stopped by the referee with 11 seconds remaining in the first of three rounds, with Tere Moana's rival receiving a heavy blow.
He was taken down with a short left hook, but as he got to his feet he was hit with a right uppercut, forcing the referee to call a standing eight count.
The 26-year-old Queenslander finished the bout with a devastating overhand right and delighted the crowd by dancing in the middle of the ring after his victory in a tribute to his Cook Islands heritage.
Teremoana started boxing at the age of 12, after her father taught her the “sweet science” to help look after her sisters.
But it wasn't until the death of his grandfather Teremoana Tangauru in 2018 that he seriously considered boxing as a viable career.
Tere Moana was once known as Samson, but changed his name to honour his grandfather.
“In Australia people used to call me that (Samson) because it's easy to say, but I was named after my grandfather Tere Moana, who died a few months before I turned 21,” he told Cook Island News.
“To acknowledge him and carry on his name, I took the family name and haven't cut my hair since I was 21, so I'm a new and better Samson.”
“Before I was called Samson I felt like I was hidden and I was allowed to get away with things a little bit. But now everything I do is directly connected to my family and the Cook Islands and I feel proud. So I wanted to do something with it.”
When asked how he sees his next bout with Jarolov playing out, Teremoana replied: “Someone's going to get knocked out.”
“My plan is to box like in that fight. We are both heavyweights so if I land a punch it will hurt him.”
The brutal manner of the win shows the growth of Teremoana, who lost in the third round to Lovcinskiy last February.
He lost the gold medal to Djalolov at last year's World Championships in Tashkent.
“I was happy to get revenge (on Lovchinskiy) and I'm going to get revenge on Uzbekistan too.”
“I believe I'm the best in the world, and this is the stage to prove it.”
Australia will have three boxers in action on Tuesday following shock losses to Tokyo lightweight bronze medallist Harry Garside in the last 16 and 60kg debutant Tyra McDonald on Monday.
Yusuf Chotia will compete in the last 16 in the men's 51kg category, while Callum Peters will compete in the men's 80kg and Tiana Echegaray will compete in the women's 54kg.
