You may not have known his name a week ago – but Kris Terzievski is keen to keep it in the public’s eye for years to come.
After securing the Australian and Australasian title belts in a unanimous decision win over NRL legend Paul Gallen, Terzievski revealed that he had almost resorted to sending the former Shark a message on Instagram, before the fight ended up being offered to him out of the blue.
“Like I said the whole time, I feel like I manifested this fight,” he said.
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Terzievski said he was talking to mates about the possibility to fight on a card with one of Australia’s big names, such as George Kambosos, but was keen for the chance to fight Gallen while he targets a transition to the developing bridgerweight division.
He said he was about to send Gallen an Instagram DM, shooting a hopeful shot as so many have done, for many reasons – but the result of the Barry Hall and Sonny Bill Williams fight changed things.
“He’s done a lot for Aussie fighters, he’s helped a lot of my mates out,” Terzievski said.
“When Baz lost to Sonny, I thought that opportunity would go down the drain … then two weeks later I get a message from my manager saying, ‘Paul Gallen wants to fight you’. I go, ‘what the f–k is going on here?'”
“When that happened, I just thought this was a blessing, I’ve got to take this opportunity – short notice or not, I’m going to jump at it. And I just said to myself, ‘I’m going to ride this wave’, you don’t get these chances very often.”
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And now, there’s no telling how long that wave is going to continue.
Dean Lonergan has already floated the idea of Terzievski fighting Justis Huni – which of course, the new champ said he’d be happy to do.
“It’d be a good contest, me and Justis, because he’s such a good boxer himself. That would be a great opportunity, but I think with bridgerweight just opening up, I could fast track my way to the world stage.
“I’d love to set my mum up, she works so hard, so if it was a big money fight I’d jump at it.”
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