Newcastle heavyweight Bryce Jones is open to fighting other NRL players if they want to make a foray into the boxing ring.
Jones, a full-time plasterer and part-time boxer, had the day off work on Thursday but was straight back into the gym preparing for his next fight in just three weeks' time after defeating South Sydney prop Daniel Suluka-Fifita in Sydney on Wednesday night.
The 31-year-old, a former league player himself with the Maitland Pickers and Port Stephens Sharks, won the under-card bout ahead of the Paul Gallen-Justin Hodges fight via a unanimous 39-37 points decision.
It was Jones' third professional fight - which he took on just six days' notice - and second win, while 23-year-old Suluka-Fifita was making his debut in the ring.
As expected, the NRL forward went hard early but Jones managed to connect with some clean right-hand shots in the opening rounds. Suluka-Fifita looked troubled in the second, but the fight managed to go the distance of four two-minute rounds.
"The first round I thought it was just figuring each other out a bit, but as the second round come around I felt pretty comfortable from then on in," Jones told the Newcastle Herald on Thursday.
"I think if it was three-minute rounds I might have been able to finish him in the second.
"He got a few good ones on me, nothing that shocked me too much but he's a big boy, he was going to be able to hit."
Jones credited Suluka-Fifita for giving boxing a crack, much like other NRL players have in recent years and said he was open to taking on such opponents in the future.
"It seems there's more and more NRL players that want to dabble [in boxing], especially with [promoter] No Limit," he said. "So I reckon there might be some offers there, or with some other heavyweights ... I'll have a look at any opportunity."
But first, Jones has a fight locked in on December 17 in Newcastle. "Straight back at it," he said. "That was already booked in before I took this one on short notice. Luckily I've come out all unscathed."
Meanwhile, Paul Gallen says no amount of money can lure him out of retirement to fight Sonny Bill Williams. Gallen ended his 21-year professional sporting career with a unanimous points win over Hodges.
But it is a Gallen-SBW heavyweight showdown that rugby league and boxing fans have been hoping to see for almost a decade. It will never happen, with Gallen unloading on the Kiwi after ending his own career with a 15-2-1 record, including eight knockouts.
"We've never had beef, and then a couple of months ago he came out and said, 'He's just not a good person'. Who the f*** is he to judge me as a person? That was the worst thing. But for him to try to judge me as a person, that's the end of it."
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