New Zealander Vs New Zealander Rematch For Boxing Title

Auckland, New Zealand born Australian resident boxers Benjamin Kelleher and Peter Sa'lesui will take on each other in a rematch this Saturday for the vacant IBO Oceania-Orient Cruiserweight title.

On the 19th of March, the two fought each other over eight rounds in the main event for that evening. It was a very close fight, but Peter Sa'lesui walked away with the win by majority decision, the biggest win of his career. The two will again be the main event this event, with the IBO Oceania-Orient regional title on the line.

Auckland born Benjamin Kelleher (15 - 3 - 2 with 4 wins by KO) made his professional boxing debut in 2016. Before becoming a boxer, he was a well experience Kickboxer, Muay Thai fighter, and MMA fighter, winning titles in each combat sport. Two well-known fighters in his MMA career he fought including UFC Fighter Dan Kelly and UFC tournament Australia vs Canada contestant Vik Grujic. It is estimated that he has fought in over 80 fights across all combat sports codes.

In his boxing career, he debuted in New Zealand against Filipo Fonoti Masoe, however, he has spent the majority of his boxing career in Australia, apart from two Singapore fights. In the first nine fights of his 21 fight boxing career, he remains undefeated with 7 wins and two draws. In those first nine fights, he took on some decent names including Adam Lovelock, Daniel Russell, Satria Antasena, and Brett Peters with a UBO Asia Pacific Cruiserweight title win in Singapore. In his ninth fight, he took on New Zealander Nikolas Charalampous for the ANBF Australasian title. Kelleher won the fight by Unanimous Decision.

Kelleher received the first loss of his career when he took on Jai Opetaia for the first time in 2018 and in 2020 With Opetaia walking away with the victory on both occasions. His only other loss was against World title contender Mark Flanagan in June 2021.

Some of the biggest moment of his career was between 2018 and 2019 when Kelleher won the Australian National title against undefeated Australian boxer Jayden Joseph and defeated American Patrick Ferguson for the IBF Pan Pacific title for his first major title win.

His opponent who is also Auckland born is undefeated boxer Peter Sa'lesui (9 - 0 - 1 with 7 wins by KO). Sa'lesui is not the only person in his family that fights in boxing. Auckland born Elijah Tevaga Sa'lesui also fights as a professional boxer.

Peter Sa'lesui made his professional boxing debut in 2019 when he fought New Zealander Waikato Falefehi, an opponent which Kelleher has also fought twice. Sa'lesui remains undefeated so far with one draw against Aaron Ross. After a couple of months after his draw, he avenged the result by stopping Aaron Ross in the 5th round. The only other New Zealander Sa'lesui has fought is Auckland boxer Viliamu Motusaga.

So far in his career, Peter Sa'lesui has yet to win a professional boxing title. Benjamin Kelleher is so far the biggest opponent and the biggest win of his career. A win for him will not only win him his first Boxing title but also will mark him as a true international contender.

The fight card will also feature two New Zealand boxers including Napier born Ricky Esilva (4 - 1 - 0) taking on Lui Masters (1 - 0 - 0) who just came off a Knockout win in his debut fight. Another New Zealander to be on the card will be Hawarden Canterbury born Australian Champion Nicila Costello taking on Muay Thai fighter Hannah Morgan. Nicila Costello is also a history-making fighter for being the New Zealand Born LGBT Professional boxer to win a professional fight when she won on debut in June 2021. Not to forget the list of accompaniments she already has for winning the Queensland State title in September 2021 and then the Australian National title in March this year.

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