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Garth Wood wins Contender Australia

31 year old Sydney boxer Garth Wood has defeated Kariz Kariuki in the finale of FOX8's reality series by a split point decision.

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31 year old Sydney boxer Garth Wood has won the title of The Contender Australia.

Wood (Blue) defeated Kariz Kariuki (Red) tonight in a live final from the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

The judges scores were  68-66 to Blue, 68-66 to Red which tied the two.  The final judge awarded 68-65 to Blue, a win by a split point decision.

Wood ended the fight with a bloodied face at the hands of the Kenyan-born fighter, but was deemed winner after relentless punching in the seven rounds.

The fight was only the eighth professional bout for Wood, a former NRL player.

Commentators for the fight were all agreed he had the fight in the bag, despite looking worse for wear. Kariuki’s long arms kept Wood on his feet but were not enough to take the title.

Both men finished graciously, acknowledging the other’s skills.

Kariuki had previously criticised a decision to reschedule the bout from a 10 round contest to 7 rounds which he said favoured Wood who had less experience in long fights.

In winning the title, Woods takes home $25,000, a new car, and the chance to fight Anthony Mundine in March.

This was the first series of The Contender Australia. Produced by Granada Australia, it has attracted some controversy over some of its judges’ decisions.

Wood finished by saying “I’m Wood, I’m good and I’m here to stay.”

Updated.

22 Responses

  1. Should have a new sport… Vertical Grappling…. Cause thats all that Wood is capable of. He couldnt box his way out of a paperbag. Sure he can can punch and take a beating…but thats it.
    Boxing used to be a skill, but at the moment its a joke

  5. This show made me want to break my TV! What kind of a boxing commission does Australia have?! Its ridiculous! Do the judges know how to score a fight? Most of the referees don’t even know how to do their job! Junior Talipeau should have made it to the finale instead of this poser, Garth. He should have been disqualified in his fight against Victor Oganov. I have no respect at all for Garth Wood. How are you meant to box a guy that wants to keep hugging and grappling, and then cheap shots his way to victory? This show makes me sick.

  6. Great Show the Contender really enjoyed it…….

    But need to point out my view that I have been watching Boxing since the 70s as my brother faught on “TV Ringside”.

    The final fight I found was more of a hugging match and saw no proffesionalism and I can understand Garf using mental attitiude than physical pitty boxing sometimes looks more like a love affair than a clean fist fight……

  10. I am a big fan of boxing and was of the this show until this so called bias fight. Please, why is it that Woods got the advantage of having familar trainers in his corner and Kariz got just anybody. Not to mention the numerous cheap shots allowed without ramifications on top of not fighting but just grabbing, in addition to the change of rounds from 10 to 7 amongst other things. Mundine will kick his ass he is no where near as good a fighter, pple live even booed and disgusted by his so called tactis.

  12. I’ve got to mention Charlotte Dawson, because her live hosting skills were Jodhi Meare’s like as was Daniel Amalm’s. It would have been interesting if it was a 10 round fight. There’s no way Garth will even come close to Anthony Mundine especially in a 12 round fight.

  13. Good on you bloke, a real aussie battler, you fought with guts and honour and the whole world could see how big your heat is and the true love you have for your girls, you difinately made them proud, you showed no matter how hard life gets u can always fight back with heart.

  14. Yeah … wood was all over him – literally spending more than half the time leaning on Kariz against the ropes! like a wrestler “boxing” his way to a win. LOL

  19. Commentators werent bias at all…and what an awesome ref.
    He deserves a medal for letting Woody lean on Kariz and cheap shot him after the bell, and while breaking them up. Warned once, what a fricken joke, seriously.
    Yeah Wood was all over him like a league player Tbone! Boxing my a**.
    Should expect this from a tv show.
    Mundines gonna use him for more than firewood.

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