Bowie Tupou

Bowie Tupou (born 3 August 1982, Fua'amotu, Tonga) is an Australian professional boxer.

Tupou has peaked at 13th in the WBO rankings after winning the WBO African title against Hunter Sam in March 2015.^[1] Tupou lost the title in August 2015 against Joseph Parker.^[2]

Before boxing

Tupou moved to Mt Druitt at age of 11, then to Newtown, New South Wales when he got married. Before becoming a boxer, Bowie played professional rugby league football in Australia for the Penrith Panthers in the under 21s. In 2001 Tupou was selected to tour New Zealand, which included a game against Southland under-21 in Queenstown. His NRL career never happened due to being sucked into the booze culture and he fell into that trap like many youngsters can. Tupou wife was the first person to suggest boxing as a sport, to help get him back on track and install some discipline in his life.

Early boxing career

He began his boxing career training with Johnny Lewis, Australia’s most well-known boxing coach, having trained Jeff Fenech, Jeff Harding, Virgil Hill and Kostya Tszyu. After only one amateur bout, he knocked out his opponent in the first round. Tupou made his pro debut on 18 February 2006 in South Windsor, New South Wales, Australia, against Brian Fitzgerald. Tupou won the evenly fought battle by a majority decision. Six months later on a rematch with Fitzgerald, Tupou picked up the lightly regarded New South Wales Heavyweight title. At the end of 2006 he settled in Los Angeles where he started training with Justin Fortune at the Pound4Pound Gym.

In 2007 he signed with Gary Shaw and made his U.S. debut on 7 September. In April 2008 he signed with a new coach Jeff Mayweather. He has beaten his first club fighters in Cisse Salif and Ray Hayes. In 2009 he was KOd by club fighter Demetrice King but a 2011 KO of Manuel Quezada and a points win over Donnell Holmes have restored some credibility. Bowie now resides in Las Vegas, NV. In 2012 he was KOd by Malik Scott and Bryant Jennings.

Returning to Australia

When returning to Australia in 2013, Tupou started training with Jeff French. Since that return he had a three win streak with wins over Hunter Sam, Nick Guivas and Junior Maletino Iakopo. After the three wins Tupou received his first major world rankings, ranked 13th in WBO and winning the WBO African title. Five months after winning the title, Tupou suffered forth lose to Joseph Parker.

In 2016, Tupou won his rematch against Hunter Sam after both boxers taking the fight on a weeks notice. Tupou won the fight by TKO. Tupou had its last regional title shot against the tallest boxer in the world, New Zealand American Julius Long. Long won the Interim WBA title by Split Decision, his biggest win of his career. Tupou has not fought since.

Professional boxing titles

• Australian New South Wales State
  • Australia – New South Wales State heavyweight title (262½Ibs)
• World Boxing Organisation
  • WBO Africa heavyweight title (284½Ibs)

Professional boxing record

^[3]

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
31	Lose	26–5	Julius Long	SD	10	7 October 2016	Jupiters Hotel & Casino, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia	interim WBA Oceania heavyweight title
30	Win	26–4	Hunter Sam	TKO	5 (6) 0:54	27 February 2016	Darwin’s Convention Centre, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
29	Lose	25–4	Joseph Parker	KO	1 (12) 1:03	1 August 2015	Stadium Southland, Invercargill, New Zealand	WBA – PABA, WBO Oriental & African and vacant WBC – OPBF heavyweight titles
28	Win	25–3	Hunter Sam	SD	10	27 March 2015	Club Punchbowl, Punchbowl, New South Wales, Australia	vacant WBO Africa heavyweight title
27	Win	24–3	Nick Guivas	TKO	6 (8) 0:53	19 March 2014	Jupiters Hotel & Casino, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia
26	Win	23–3	Junior Maletino Iakopo	UD	6	20 December 2013	Jupiters Hotel & Casino, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia
25	Lose	22–3	Bryant Jennings	TKO	5 (12) 1:37	8 December 2012	Temple University McGonigle Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA	USBA heavyweight title
24	Lose	22–2	Malik Scott	TKO	8 (8) 0:52	8 September 2012	Oracle Arena, Oakland, California, USA
23	Win	22–1	Donnell Holmes	UD	10	17 December 2011	Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
22	Win	21–1	Manuel Quezada	KO	7 (10) 0:53	14 May 2011	Home Depot Center, Carson, California, USA
21	Win	20–1	Andrew Greeley	UD	4	8 April 2011	Event Center, Laredo, Texas, USA
20	Win	19–1	Alexis Mejias	RTD	2 (6) 3:00	21 May 2010	Capitale, New York, New York, USA
19	Lose	18–1	Demetrice King	KO	2 (8) 0:52	1 August 2009	Agua Caliente Casino, Rancho Mirage, California, USA
18	Win	18–0	Chris Koval	TKO	3 (8) 0:15	9 May 2009	Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
17	Win	17–0	Marcus Rhode	TKO	1 (10) 1:21	28 March 2009	Buffalo Run Casino, Miami, Oklahoma, USA
16	Win	16–0	Cisse Salif	UD	6	10 January 2009	Emerald Queen Casino, Tacoma, Washington, USA
15	Win	15–0	Otis Tisdale	TKO	2 (10) 1:56	7 June 2018	Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, Connecticut, USA
14	Win	14–0	Ramon Hayes	UD	6	12 April 2008	St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida, USA
13	Win	13–0	John Clark	RTD	4 (6) 3:00	22 February 2008	Doubletree Hotel, Ontario, California, USA
12	Win	12–0	Jason Bergman	KO	2 (6) 1:14	30 November 2007	Chumash Casino, Santa Ynez, California, USA
11	Win	11–0	Harvey Jolly	KO	2 (6) 2:37	5 October 2007	Omega Products International, Corona, California, USA
10	Win	10–0	John Clark	TKO	4 (6) 0:28	7 September 2007	Chumash Casino, Santa Ynez, California, USA
9	Win	9–0	Richard Tutaki	KO	3 (6) 1:30	10 November 2006	Wyong RSL Club, Wyong, New South Wales, Australia
8	Win	8–0	Alex Mene	TKO	2 (6) 2:59	21 October 2006	Roundhouse, Uni of NSW, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia
7	Win	7–0	Brian Fitzgerald	UD	6	8 September 2006	Wyong RSL Club, Wyong, New South Wales, Australia
6	Win	6–0	Ramba Sithsianboh	TKO	1 (6) 1:09	4 August 2006	Croatian Club, Punchbowl, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
5	Win	5–0	Terry Tuteru	TKO	1 (4) 1:56	14 July 2006	Greek Community Club, Lakemba, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
4	Win	4–0	Vai Toevai	KO	1 (6) 2:35	9 June 2006	Southport RSL Club, Southport, Queensland, Australia
3	Win	3–0	John Justice	KO	1 (8) 0:54	12 May 2006	Croatian Club, Punchbowl, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	vacant Australia – New South Wales State heavyweight title
2	Win	2–0	Corey Wainwright	KO	1 (6) 0:53	24 March 2006	Croatian Club, Punchbowl, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1	Win	1–0	Brian Fitzgerald	MD	6	18 February 2006	Windsor Rugby League Club, South Windsor, New South Wales, Australia	Professional debut

References