(JAN 24) Today Andrew
Herrett and Vasco Kovačević have announced the rematch between
Arlie Meleisea and Nailini Helu will happen at the ABA Stadium
on March 10th in Auckland, New Zealand. The rematch will
be for the vacant New Zealand (NZPBA Version) and vacant UBF
asia pacific female heavyweight titles.
The planning of this bout had a
few major roadblocks which all started in September of last
year. On 24th of September, Nailini Helu took on Ange Davis for
the two scheduled titles. The bout originally resulted in Helu
winning by a split decision, however after an appeal to recheck
the scorecards, there was an error that was discovered in the
judge's scorecard calculation, changing the results to a draw.
In resulting to the Appeal, not only was the decision changed
but the NZPBA ordered a rematch between Helu and Davis to happen
for the titles within the six months of their first encounter.
Recently during training, Ange Davis suffered a serious shoulder
injury, which would keep her away from the ring passed the
six-month expiry date of March 24th. After long negotiations and
discussions, it was decided that Nailini Helu will now face
Arlie Meleisea for the two vacant titles with the winner to go
against Ange Davis when she recovers from her injury.
Meleisea and Helu have fought each other before in October 2016
on the Robert Berridge vs. Adrian Taihia undercard. Meleisea won
the bout by a split decision causing a big upset and a shake-up
in the female heavyweight division. Helu’s performance on the
night has been described as taking it easy on Meleisea. A theory
from one of the fans was that due to the Media and social media
backlash that was caused by the original decision of Helu vs
Davis, Helu’s mental well being was greatly affected, which
explained Helu pulling out of an event earlier in the month and
when she express difficulty training at the time.
Meleisea came on to the professional boxing scene out of
nowhere, as she took the first fight against Helu on three day's
notice and taking on Kirsty Lupeamanu on a little over a week's
notice, proving that she is no one hit wonder. Currently
Meleisea is ranked 8th on Boxrec, 7th WIBA and 9th with the WBF.
Outside the ring, Meleisea is also an MMA fighter.
Also on the card, Kerry Davies will be making is professional
debut against Mubin Mohammed. Strong up and comer Evander Tia,
will also be making his professional debut against an opponent
that is still to be announced. Tia is one of the most feared
boxers in the corporate division.
