Boxing: Albert Nolan defends Australasian title against Vegas Larfield

He had just started back at work after a long weekend spent with his family at Lake Keepit, zipping around on waterskis. Nolan described the idyllic scene with a sense of relief. It was a much-needed holiday after the hardest fight of his life.

The Gunnedah resident is freshly removed from the first successful defence of his Australasian featherweight title against Vegas Larfield last month.

"It was a good, tough fight. A very tough fight," Nolan said.

"He's a tough kid. I did expect that [kind of fight], I knew he'd trained with some of the top fighters in Australia, and that he was coming to fight. I was expecting a war."

Also read:

The plan from the Black 'n' Blue Boxing team, headed by coach David Syphers, was to remain unpredictable and not let Larfield settle into a rhythm.

As has become habitual throughout his career, Nolan executed well, save for a scary moment in round four.

"He was the forward fighter, and I was the backwards fighter. I pretty much laid on the ropes and said 'Let's go'," Nolan said.

"'I'm happy to take your shots, and if I'm here, you'll take mine.' I felt confident, and I thought I felt his power, until I got caught with a big shot in round four.

"We recovered pretty quick, and got back in there."

In response, Nolan resolved to move his head more and continued to pepper Larfield with counters.

Nolan stood next to referee Will Soulos after the final bell had rung with his right eye swollen shut, "pretty confident" that he had done enough to earn the win.

The judges agreed, and awarded Nolan the unanimous decision victory.

It marked the first loss of Larfield's 10-fight career, who was also the most credentialled of Nolan's opponents.

He was the underdog going in to the fight, and his victory now sets him up for even more high-profile bouts in the future.

As yet, however, Nolan and Syphers have not discussed what might be next. He hopes to fight again either at the end of 2023 or the start of 2024, and is open to defending his current title or looking for a new title to challenge for.

But for the moment, Nolan is content to rest, recover, and spend time with his loved ones.

"[I'm] just relaxing," he said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: