UPDATE: Looks like Tony Abbott’s seen the Sunday Mail and is not all that keen:
Story about me re-entering the ring is fake news. Utter rubbish. Media should be ashamed of themselves
— Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) April 23, 2017
Insert your jokes about big swings here – a Labor senator from Queensland has challenged former Liberal Prime Minister and noted pugilist Tony Abbott to go a few rounds in the boxing ring.
Anthony Chisholm, who was elected to the Senate in 2016, has been boxing “on and off” for the last 20 years, and while he admits he’s “not skilled by any stretch”, he says he’s stepped up his training over the last 12 months.
Tony Abbott, meanwhile, was a keen boxer while a student at Oxford – he attended the university on a Rhodes scholarship, and fought as a heavyweight, winning two blues, an award given out by only the fanciest of universities.
The plan would be for the two to go toe-to-toe ahead of the Manny Pacquiao–Jeff Horn fight, which will take place in front of an expected sell-out crowd of 55,000 at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on July 2.
Duco Events, the organisers of the World Welterweight title fights, say it’s a “very interesting” idea. Duco have organised bouts for political figures before, putting New Zealand PM Bill English in the ring when he was opposition leader.
Chisholm told Brisbane’s Sunday Mail “I don’t think anything will steal the thunder of Pacquiao and Horn, but I think people would take it in the right spirit. It would be a good chance to raise money together for charity. It would be good fun.”
“If Tony’s keen to do it, then I’m in,” he said. Abbott has not yet responded, but “further discussions” are reportedly expected to take place throughout the coming week.
Source: Courier Mail.
Photo: Getty.
