You may not have known his name a week ago – but Kris Terzievski is keen to keep it in the public’s eye for years to come.
After securing the Australian and Australasian title belts in a unanimous decision win over NRL legend Paul Gallen, Terzievski revealed that he had almost resorted to sending the former Shark a message on Instagram, before the fight ended up being offered to him out of the blue.
“Like I said the whole time, I feel like I manifested this fight,” he said.
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Terzievski said he was talking to mates about the possibility to fight on a card with one of Australia’s big names, such as George Kambosos, but was keen for the chance to fight Gallen while he targets a transition to the developing bridgerweight division.
He said he was about to send Gallen an Instagram DM, shooting a hopeful shot as so many have done, for many reasons – but the result of the Barry Hall and Sonny Bill Williams fight changed things.
“He’s done a lot for Aussie fighters, he’s helped a lot of my mates out,” Terzievski said.
“When Baz lost to Sonny, I thought that opportunity would go down the drain … then two weeks later I get a message from my manager saying, ‘Paul Gallen wants to fight you’. I go, ‘what the f–k is going on here?'”
“When that happened, I just thought this was a blessing, I’ve got to take this opportunity – short notice or not, I’m going to jump at it. And I just said to myself, ‘I’m going to ride this wave’, you don’t get these chances very often.”
And now, there’s no telling how long that wave is going to continue.
Dean Lonergan has already floated the idea of Terzievski fighting Justis Huni – which of course, the new champ said he’d be happy to do.
“It’d be a good contest, me and Justis, because he’s such a good boxer himself. That would be a great opportunity, but I think with bridgerweight just opening up, I could fast track my way to the world stage.
“I’d love to set my mum up, she works so hard, so if it was a big money fight I’d jump at it.”