Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Muay Thai: Whanganui's Brendon Wallace wins NZ Heavyweight title

By Jared Smith
Sports Editor·Whanganui Chronicle·
9 Dec, 2018 05:07 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Brendon Wallace won the NZMF Heavyweight title on Saturday night in Timaru.

Brendon Wallace won the NZMF Heavyweight title on Saturday night in Timaru.

Whanganui's Brendon Wallace has rebounded from defeat in the best way possible as the Assassins Muay Thai prospect won the vacant NZMF Heavyweight title against Auckland's Rawiri Wiperi in Timaru on Saturday night.

The five round bout was the co-main event of the Vendetta show put on by Lucky Nine Gym, and in what was considered the fight of the night, Wallace claimed the title by split decision on the judges scorecards, 48-47 46-49 49-46.

This was Wallace's comeback from his unanimous decision loss to Wellington's Navajo Stirling for the NZMF North Island Heavyweight title at Night of Assassins 3 in Whanganui on November 3.

Not giving up the same height disadvantage that he did to the towering Stirling, Wallace fought a technical and even first round with Wiperi, with both men taking turns to get on the offence with jabbing combinations, followed by calf kicks and knees, moving around the ring at a swift pace.

In the second round, Wallace used his counterpunches to telling effect, backing the taller Wiperi up, then looking to score with left and right hooks.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A brief stoppage for his mouthguard and Wiperi came back looking to impose himself with kicks and knees from the clinch.

But Wallace absorbed the pressure and timed some nice elbow shots in the grappling on the ropes, and when he got free, a hard right hand hurt Wiperi and left his mouth bleeding, with Wallace trying for the finish until slipping over in Wiperi's corner on some spilled water.

The action kept picking up in Round 3 as both men traded hard leg kicks, before another strong punch from Wallace rocked Wiperi, who was pushed back to the ropes and took a fierce pounding.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But the Aucklander wouldn't be put away, landing a spinning back elbow, as Wallace had expended a lot of energy in his barrage.

He was sucking in the air in the corner with trainer Kyle Gallacher working with him to control his breathing and issuing instructions to attack the body.

Wallace started the fourth round with body punches and kicks as instructed, and then rocked Wiperi again with a series of uppercuts on the button, before coming hard with more hooks and jabs as he looked for the stoppage.

A quick stop to wipe the blood from Wiperi's nose gave him some respite, taking Wallace back to the corner in a grapple as both men traded knee strikes to the bell.

Discover more

Brunswick students learn archery for Robin Hood play

11 Dec 03:00 AM

Wallace was nearly exhausted, but he dug into the bag of tricks with a twisting sidekick, which Wiperi countered with one of his own, and after moving away from a Wallace spinning back elbow, he connected with a leaping superman punch.

Wiperi then came hard at a tiring Wallace with a series of hard shots, but the Whanganui fighter checked his momentum with straight kicks to stomach, followed by more hooks.

Desperate, Wiperi followed Wallace around, scoring with leg kicks while Wallace covered up to avoid the punches, and then the Whanganui found another second wind with a series of jabs on the button to send Wiperi back to the ropes.

They locked up again and traded knee strikes to the bell.

The split decision victory gets Wallace back on track after Stirling had derailed his previously 11 fight winning streak and makes him a two-weight champion with his IKBF New Zealand Middleweight crown.

A proud Gallacher was not happy with the one judge scoring the bout for Wiperi by a four round margin, given it was clear Wallace had dominated the middle three rounds.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Three or four moments we thought he was getting the knock out.

"I spoke to the ref afterwards and apparently that judge wasn't even a trainer, so who knows what he was looking for."

Gallacher said his fighter will have a break over the New Year, and then begin cutting weight so he can compete at cruiserweight, having come up several classes to vie for the heavyweight belts.

"The sky's the limit, because he's a multiple weight champion now."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Whanganui Chronicle

Endurance ace ready for 'Wimbledon' of trail running

Sponsored Stories

Rugby: Marist Knights seize senior title

Sponsored Stories

Rugby: One point in it as Taihape edge Kaierau


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Endurance ace ready for 'Wimbledon' of trail running
Whanganui Chronicle

Endurance ace ready for 'Wimbledon' of trail running

'I’m doing it again to compete in it, rather than just complete it.'

15 Jul 05:00 PM
Rugby: Marist Knights seize senior title
Sponsored Stories

Rugby: Marist Knights seize senior title

14 Jul 05:00 PM
Rugby: One point in it as Taihape edge Kaierau
Sponsored Stories

Rugby: One point in it as Taihape edge Kaierau

14 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP