New Zealander Goes For Australian Boxing Title

Nelson-born Gold Coast resident Ricky Esilva goes for the Australian National Boxing Cruiserweight title against Vita Pomale on December 3rd at the Gold Coast.

Ricky Esilva (6 - 1 - 0) is more well-known for his kickboxing career, especially after a successful 2019 year. This was a massive comeback in his combat career for him after he was away with a serious back injury. Since then he has moved to Australia training under legendary combat sports fighter John Parr. Esilva made the jump to boxing when he made his professional debut against American Australian Michael Anthony McDaniel in December 2020.

Eventually, Esilva joined the boxing stable of Angelo Di Carlo with Ace Boxing Group. Di Carlo is one of the major boxing promoters in Australia. He also promotes a lot of other New Zealand-born Australians including Australian Champion Nicila Costello, former ANBF middleweight champion Billy Limov, former IBF Pan Pacific cruiserweight champion Benjamin Kelleher and the current Cruiserweight champion Floyd Masson.

Esilva kept moderately busy in 2021 when he competed in three boxing fights including a Knockout win against Herve Silu Mata, A unanimous decision win against former Sonny Bill Williams opponent Waikato Falefehi and former world-ranked boxer Victor Oganov.

In 2022, Esilva received his first loss in his career when he took on Australian National Champion, Austin Aokuso for the ANBF Queensland state title. Despite one epic fight, Esilva lost by a unanimous decision. He returned to the ring when he fought another New Zealand-born Australian Louis Marsters. Esilva made it into a massive win by TKO. We last saw Esilva in the ring when he took on indian boxer Dharmender Grewal. Esilva won by TKO the biggest win of his career so far.

Esilva will be taking on Vita Pomale for the Australian title. The title was last held by New Zealand-born Floyd Masson who defeat Benjamin Kelleher and Mark Flanagan for. Vita Pomale debuted in 2016 but did not have his second fight until 2021. The biggest win of his career so far was against three-win undefeated boxer Dids Mwaka. Pomale is a knockout artist leaving him undefeated with all five wins coming by way of Knockout.

Esilva has five Knockouts to his six-win resume. With both boxers having high knockout percentages, it's expected this fight to end in a knockout.

On the undercard of the event, Hawarden, New Zealand-born Australian boxer Nicila Costello will be fighting for the WIBA World title against Jasmine Parr in a rematch. Costello won her own Australian title in March this year. Currently, her record is four wins with two losses. Her first loss came from Jasmine Parr. Her second came from another New Zealander, Michelle Preston.

It is highly likely the event will be televised, however, it is unlikely it will be broadcast in New Zealand. The event is held on the 3rd of December at The Star in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

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