The planning of this bout had a few major roadblocks which all started in September 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 SD, 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 change but NZPBA ordered a rematch between Helu and Davis to happen for the titles within the 6 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 6 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 SD causing a big upset and a shake 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 wellbeing 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 WBFed. Outside the ring, Meleisea is also a MMA fight.
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.
