Wood wins as true Cinderella Man
With three minutes left in Garth Wood's journey from hell, his trainer Billy Hussein roared "Brother, this is a Cinderella Story"... turns out Hussein was right.
Wood the thirty-one year old former NRL journeyman who cleans offices to make ends meet - last night emerged from boxing obscurity and dark depression to claim the inaugural Contender series with a crushing win over Kariz Kariuki.
A last minute ring-in to the series, Wood entered the final against the former Kenyan Olympian a pronounced underdog. Short on experience and height, Wood's street brawl smarts were expected to be no match for Kariuki's superior reach and power.
But what transpired was stuff from a Hollywood blockbuster, as Wood finished with blood-soaked shorts, the $25,000 winner's cheque and an upcoming fight against three-time world champ Anthony Mundine.
Incredibly, it was only Wood's eighth fight.
But he looked every bit the seasoned pro during the seven-round bout, his overhand right repeatedly bombing Kariuki at close quarters to bankroll victory. In the end Wood was awarded a split verdict, but most seasoned observers were adamant he should have won unanimously.
Although Wood's barrage failed to knock a brave Kariuki down, there was only going to be one winner after his opening onslaught during the first two rounds.
"It's like a movie, I'm the leading man, I'm the director, I'm the producer and I've hopefully got an Oscar now." Wood said last night.
There was controversy in an earlier fight between two other boxers from the Contender when the grudge match between Junior Talipeau and Nader Hamdan ended in a technical draw just one minute and three seconds into the first round due to a head clash.
While they didn't clash in the program, Hamdan and Talipeau spent much of the show trash talking and taunting each other.