Local boxer Clay Waterman has lost his bid for the Australasian Light Heavyweight Title in a points decision following a bitter clash with his opponent leading into the bout.
The “bitter enemies” exchanged verbal blows online and at press conferences in the weeks leading into the bout, with Aokuso refusing to shake Waterman’s hand at the face-off.
“No more social media talking,” Aokuso said to Waterman.
“Tomorrow it goes down.”
And it did.
The 10-round saw Waterman fail to win over two of the judges, with a third scoring the boxers evenly (97-93, 96-94, 95-95).
Prior to the judges decisions, pundits and commentators said there was no clear winner.
Waterman was praised for his ability to overcome the “immense storm” of beltings he copped at one point in the match, showing his “class”, “courage” and “skill”.
“He showed he is a warrior,” commentator and former Australian professional boxer Danny Green said.
“Both men absolutely left nothing in the tank, they put it all on the line.”
Aokuso impressed the judges in the final round, landing two back-to-back left hands in the early moments.
But it was a close battle, with Waterman taking the lead in the eighth round by landing several big hits on his opponent.
As amateurs, the pair fought five times, with the Logan local winning three of those.
The 28-year-old Waterman, who was the top-ranked light heavyweight, walked into the ring with an impressive professional record of 14 fights, 13 wins (nine by knock out), and one loss.
Pundits say he has “so many good days ahead”.
Aokuso’s professional record sits at seven fights, all in his favour.
At the Olympics qualifier in 2020, Aokuso clinched victory over Waterman to make an appearance at the Tokyo games, where he failed to make it out of the preliminary rounds.
Photo supplied by Stan.
