Teremoana Samson "Tower of Terror" Junior Leon Teremoana

If you've been living under a rock and not heard the growing buzz about the hulking Cook Islander Māori-Aussie during the Paris Olympics, here's your primer!

Standing at six foot six, he boasts a preposterous 75% rate of stoppage in the amateurs. That is bananas, first of all. He is also 3-1 (really 4-1 but one victory was a "Walkover" - aka forfeiture before the bell even rang) versus the well regarded Brazilian two-time Olympic representative Abner Teixeira da Silva Júnior - with the loss and one victory coming by split decision, and the other two coming by forms of stoppage (one a KO and one a corner retirement).

He did lose h2h to fellow undefeated HW prospect and countryman Justis Pieter "JPH" Huni - but they were both teenagers when they fought. A showdown now that both have their man-strength could be inevitable, and could give Australia its first serious world contender in the unlimited class in living memory. IMO the bar set by the recent likes of Lucas Browne or Alex Leapai could easily be cleared by Huni and Teremoana.

He debuted in 2020 and interrupted his career about two years ago to focus on preparations for the Olympics. Now he'll be making up for lost time.

Here both of his performances in Paris, courtesy of yours truly:

Teremoana vs. Dmytro Pavlovich Lovchinskyi, Paris Olympics 92+kg Round of 16:

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Teremoana vs. Bakhodir Isomiddin Ugli Jalolov, Paris Olympics 92+kg Quarterfinals:

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And here is his entire pro career so far, save the last bout in September of 2022 (can't find an upload anywhere; don't think it was even televised)

Pro debut vs. Drew Jackson:

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Sophomore outing vs. Daniel Joyce:

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Third bout vs. Hunter Sam:

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Seems a nice guy in all of his interviews, too. Big goofball, loves Taco Tuesday.

 

Fifth pro bout*, blitzed Ukrainian thirty-six year old Volodymyr Katsuk deep on the Murodjon Kakharovich Akhmadaliev vs Ricardo Espinoza Franco undercard:

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*first professional outing since the Olympics.

 

Now, granted Katsuk isn't the most resilient guy (he was knocked out in the amateurs by both Zhan Kossobutskiy and Sergey Kuzmin) but to drop him thrice in two minutes with a mix of head and body shots isn't a bad result at all. Teremoana looked in good nick.

 

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I was thinking Paul Dano & Jason Momoa.

 

Not really a step up on the Kambosos vs. Wyllie undercard this weekend, but a step forward at least - Fijian glass cannon James Ashwin "The Beast" Singh.

3rd fight in three months, can't be mad at that schedule.