Tassie pugilist lays down Law in upset

TASMANIA has a new national boxing champion, with Latrobe’s Luke Woods putting in a gutsy performance over the weekend to defeat highly fancied Queenslander Ethan ‘The Stallion’ Law to claim the vacant Australian super welterweight title.

Going into Saturday’s fight on the Gold Coast, Woods held a record of 6-4 and was seen as the heavy underdog against the then undefeated Law (5-0).

However the Tasmanian silenced the doubters with a courageous 10-round performance to score a unanimous points decision to become the new Australian

super welterweight champion. In a pre-fight twist, Law failed to make the required weight of 70kg at Friday’s weigh-in, meaning he couldn’t claim the vacant title even if he had won the bout.

The drama didn’t seem to

bother Woods who despite an early knockdown, was well on top to be crowned the state’s newest national champion.

While the Latrobe product got exactly what he travelled to Queensland for, it wasn’t always looking rosy for the

29-year-old when early in the second round a hard left to the head from Law sent Woods sprawling to the canvas. To his credit, Woods picked himself up and survived the count, avoiding the early finish that Law was searching for. The heavy hit seemed to be a wake-up call for Woods as the southpaw took control of the fight for the remaining eight rounds.

And once the bell rang for the final time at the end of the 10th round, it was clear he’d done enough to pull off a famous upset.

The three judges scored the bout 97-92, 98-91 and 97-92 in favour of the Tasmanian to secure the win for Woods and hand ‘The Stallion’ his first professional loss.

The victory takes Woods’ professional record to 7-4 and adds intrigue to what’s next for the boxer after previously stating he had plans to retire around the age of 30.