While the nation was fixated on the homegrown spectacle of Green vs Mundine II, another First Australian man, Renold Vatubua-Quinlan was preparing to undertake a bout of global significance.The 'Dunghutti Destroyer' from Kempsey, NSW, headed to London over the weekend to defend his IBO Super-middleweight belt against British boxer, Chris Eubank Jr, son of British boxing legend and double-division world champ, Chris Eubank.With just 13 professional fights to his name, Quinlan was rated an outside chance of holding onto the belt he claimed with victory over fellow First Australian Daniel Geale, with some bookies putting him as far out as 25-1.
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And so it went that Quinlan was outclassed by Eubank Jr. The Brit looked set to notch up a knockout in the sixth after he hit Quinlan with a barrage of heavy blows, forcing him to prop himself up with the ropes. But he held on stoically, earning huge respect from the crowd and commentators until the referee stepped in to stop it in the tenth. Eubank Jr was quick to pay respect to Quinlan's toughness, declaring "it was like hitting concrete.""He was very hard," said Eubank."It was like hitting concrete, full respect to him he gave me a real hard fight. But this is just the start for me."