The recent times in Boxing’s 175lb. Light-Heavyweight division have centered around Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, the two long-reigning world champions of the division, who finally met in October of this year to determine the Undisputed World Light-Heavyweight championship. In what was a highly competitive fight, it was Beterbiev who emerged victorious by a razor thin decision. Both due to the competitive nature of that fight as well as a rematch clause, Beterbiev and Bivol will continue to be the focus as they will meet again in February 2025.
Outside of the top of the division where the focus remains on Beterbiev and Bivol, however, there are prospects and contenders looking to position themselves for potential lucrative bouts against either later in 2025 and beyond. One such fighter is rising prospect Conor Wallace. Wallace, a native of Newry, Northern Ireland, now based in Queensland, Australia, has quickly emerged as a fighter to watch and could well find himself in the mix among the top contenders, or Beterbiev, or Bivol sooner rather than later.
After establishing a record of 14-1, with 10 Knockouts, Wallace concluded his 2024 on Wednesday night when he faced the unbeaten, but largely unknown Asemahle Wellem at the Fortitude Music Hall in Queensland Australia. Despite coming into the fight with an undefeated record of 7-0-1, with 3 Knockouts, Wellem, a native of South Africa, was a bit of a mystery in the sense that there was not footage that this observer could access prior to this bout of his previous fights, and all one could really go on without the benefit of film study, was simply the statistical figures in his record as well as the knowledge per that record that Wellem came into this fight off of a draw in his last bout in March against a fellow undefeated fighter named Selemani Kidunda in a fight fought in the 168lb. Super-Middleweight division.
Often when there is not much known about a fighter going into a bout, it can be difficult to get an idea as to what type of fight one could expect. Wellem would turn out to be a fighter who was quite awkward, but one that ended up providing Wallace with what turned out to be a significant test.
The early rounds saw both fighters looking to establish position, Wallace, a southpaw seeming to be the naturally bigger fighter and attempting to keep Wellem at distance with his longer reach. As tends to happen when a southpaw faces an orthodox fighter, there was no shortage of trips, unintentional, and perhaps intentional grappling between the two fighters throughout with Wallace often getting the worst of it in hitting the canvas and at times appearing to be thrown akin to what one would see in the sport of Judo. This was not aided by what appeared to be moisture on the canvas, which had both fighters having trouble periodically maintaining their footing.
Wellem did succeed for a time in being able to keep Wallace from finding a rhythm by frequently changing the levels of his attack from the head to the body as well as not over playing his hand in only taking opportunities as they came rather than being overly aggressive. As the fight progressed, Wallace managed to gradually apply tactical pressure, which opened up opportunities to land his left hand from the southpaw stance. This did not prevent him from getting caught in the fourth round and appearing to be hurt by a right hand by Wellem. Wallace would respond by landing a left hook to the body that forced Wellum to take a knee moments later.
Perhaps because he had now felt the power of his opponent, Wellem would resort to a dirty tactic in the fifth round when while being separated by the referee, he hit Wallace in the back of the head, which caused an immediate point deduction for not only hitting on the break, but also hitting his opponent in the back of the head. The subject of potential scoring of the fight, however, would prove to be a moot point as Wallace continued to apply pressure and gradually land hard punches that affected Wellem.
In the eighth round Wallace would drop Wellem for the second time with a straight left hand. Although Wellem showed his mettle by getting up, he was clearly hurt, and Wallace sensing his opponent was in trouble, went for the finish. A follow-up combination sent Wellem down for a third and final time as the bout was promptly stopped. The fifthteeth victory in the career of Conor Wallace and his eighth straight win since suffering his only career setback in April 2021, earned him the WBA’s vacant Oceania Light-Heavyweight title, one of the regional championships used to elevate fighters into the world rankings who compete in the Asia-Pacific region of the world, not unlike fighters who win British titles in the United Kingdom or European championships throughout Europe, which all serve as a route for fighters to elevate themselves into the world rankings.
More importantly, this win will serve Wallace well in terms of his development in the long-term. He did face an opponent here in Asemahle Wellem, who presented an awkward style that for a time proved difficult to combat. Furthermore, Wellem did test Wallace's ability to cope with being hurt and was not cooperative and kept fighting after being knocked down initially. While fights like this often serve better than a quick knockout in the long-term as far as a fighter’s development is concerned, the ability to cope with what some might view as an unexpected test and still accomplish the task of victory will also serve Wallace as he looks to progress against theoretically tougher competition with the goal of eventually challenging for a world championship.
“And That's The Boxing Truth."
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