Tim Tszyu, sitting at ringside, called it ‘tough as hell to watch,’ and Nelson Asofa-Solomona called it ‘ugly’ — and they seemed to be fair descriptions of his fight with George Burgess.
The two former NRL stars were fighting on the undercard of Liam Paro’s IBF welterweight title fight with Lewis Crocker.
And for all of Burgess’s heart and effort, he really lacked any sort of technique as he was bloodied by NAS.
Entering the fight, there had been concerns over Burgess’s cardio, with questions asked as to whether he could go deep into a fight.
But that was something that no one was able to find out, as Asofa-Solomona ended the fight via TKO in the third round when Burgess’s corner threw in the towel.
The action inside the ring was fierce, but that didn’t stop the pair from paying touching tributes to Jai Arrow, who has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
George Burgess was left bloodied after his bouth with Nelson Asofa-Solomona was stopped in the third round
Asofa-Solomona described the fight as ‘ugly’ as Burgess struggled to show any real boxing technique but plenty of heart
The pair then came together after the fight to pay tribute to stricken NRL star Jai Arrow
Burgess had a tribute to Arrow on his gear — MND is an illness that hits particularly close to home for him after his father died of the heartbreaking illness.
Prior to the fight, Burgess said he spoke to Arrow shortly after his diagnosis, likening the conversation to that of the one he had with his father.
‘I’ve spent a lot of time with Jai and was on the phone with him straight away,’ Burgess told Code Sports. ‘We can’t support him enough.
‘They’ve really messed with the wrong guy this time in Jai.
‘He’s going to put up such a fight.
‘I spoke to him the other day just before he left to Spain for treatment, and it was like speaking to my father again — the same speech things I noticed with my dad.
‘It was quite emotional.’
After his win, Asofa-Solomona stripped down to his NASA underwear, declaring he would auction off his trunks with the proceeds going to Jai Arrow.
Asofa-Solomona took his shorts off after the fight declaring he will auction them off for Arrow
‘I just want to use this time to acknowledge Jai Arrow, he’s going through a really tough time,’ Asofa-Solomona said before calling Burgess over to him.
‘I know Jai is going through a tough time and I’m pretty sure he was on both of our hearts,’ he finished.
His opponent then continued, ‘We have been in here fighting, but he is fighting a bigger fighter than us and we are all behind him.’
Asofa-Solomona then asked his opponent if he had undies on as he took his trunks off in the middle of the ring.
While Burgess did not join in with the removal of his fight gear, he seemed very on board with auctioning off his shorts as well.
Fans on the social media platform X were full of praise for Burgess’s in-ring effort despite the early loss.
‘Fair play George Burgess. Not a clue how he didn’t get sparked by that right hand. If he sorts his cardio out and keeps learning he’ll make a few quid out of fighting domestic level fighters and ex-NRL players,’ one user by the name of Jonny wrote.
The two men showed plenty of heart in the ring, and they certainly showed even more outside of their bout with their touching nods to Jai Arrow.
