Lawrence Tauasa

Lawrence Tauasa is a Samoan Australian former professional boxer who competes in the cruiserweight division. He comes from Sydney, is a former Australian cruiserweight champion and was a contestant on the fourth season of the Contender.[1]

Lawrence Tauasa
Statistics
Real nameLawrence Tauasa
Weight(s)Cruiserweight
Height5f 9 in
NationalityAustralian/Samoan
Born8 July 1979
Apia, Samoa
Boxing record
Total fights46
Wins35
Wins by KO23
Losses10
Draws1

Early life

Tauasa was born in Samoa but moved to New Zealand when he was 6.[2] He moved to Australia when he was 13.[3]

He made his professional debut in February 1998 with a draw in New South Wales against Glen Fitzpatrick. Over the next few years he made mixed progress scoring a further 8 wins against 2 defeats before challenging Daniel Rowsell for the Australian cruiserweight title in July 2001. It was his first title challenge and it ended with a defeat for Tauasa.[4]

Australian champion

A second attempt for the title was made in February 2003 after three straight wins.[5] The opponent on this occasion was Tosca Petridis and Tauasa picked up the title, this time with a Majority decision.[6] He defended the title only once against former champion Jamie Wallace[7] winning a unanimous decision on that occasion in July 2003.[8]

Title challenges

Tauasa next fought for a title in November 2006 having fought a further eleven times since his victory over Wallace, winning on ten occasions and losing once. In November 2006 he travelled to South Africa to fight Polish heavyweight Albert Sosnowski for the World Boxing Federation (WBF) heavyweight title, losing for the fifth time.

Following the defeat to Sosnowski, Tauasa scored two knockout wins before meeting Jamie Wallace for the second time for the IBF Australasian cruiserweight title in October 2007, winning in the 4th round. In his next fight he travelled to Samoa to win the vacant WBO Oriental cruiserweight title beating Frenchman Charles Baou again in the 4th round. Over the course of his next two fights in 2008 he would make one defence each of both titles.[9]

Contender

Tauasa was a contestant on the 4th series of the boxing reality show, The Contender and fought for the blue team.[10] On 14 January 2009 he suffered his sixth defeat as a professional when he was knocked out of the competition in the first round after suffering a 2nd-round TKO at the hands of Canadian Troy Ross.[11]

References
  1. "Lawrence Tauasa". BoxRec.com. 8 July 1979. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  2. Adrian Warren (4 May 2003). "How girl power gave Tauasa helping hand". Sydney Sun-Herald. p. 105 – via EBSCOHost.
  3. Grantlee Kieza (3 May 2003). "Tauasa rips in to hook his chance". Daily Telegraph. p. 92 – via EBSCOHost.
  4. "Taylor knocks off early". Perth Sunday Times. 15 July 2001 – via EBSCOHost.
  5. Grantlee Kieza (17 February 2003). "Tough Tauasa cruising to title fight". Daily Telegraph. p. 40 – via EBSCOHost.
  6. "Box: Tauasa wins vacant Australian cruiserweight title". Australian Sports News Wire. 21 February 2003 – via EBSCOHost.
  7. Grantlee Kieza (18 July 2003). "Tauasa scales new heights". Daily Telegraph. p. 106 – via EBSCOHost.
  8. "BoxRec title search". Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2009.
  9. Scarfone, Ron. "Cruiserweights compete on The Contender 4". East Side Boxing. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  10. "The Contender". Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  11. "The Contender: Episode 2". Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
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