NETFLIX DEBUT FOR "DEADLY" DANA COOLWELL
Aussie indigenous star Dana Coolwell never officially fought on a VSP show, but we got him a gig in Dubai, and we had a couple of failed attempts to get him to Vietnam.
We also got him Aussie fights with a couple of good VSP boys Lorenz Ladrada and Fernando Tagpuno.
Now Dana has a big fight coming up in the States this Saturday against one of their rising stars - Bruce "Shu Shu" Carrington.
But this ain't no ordinary club show - Dana will be fighting in front of 80,000 people as one of the big Mike Tyson undercard bouts at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas Texas !!
And there's more.
If you are a boxer, you'd never expect to end up on Netflix ! Crazy but true - the streaming giant is sending this worldwide !!
Dana takes on the much hyped American Bruce Carrington - an unbeaten 13-0 top ten Featherweight.
The guy is real slick - but he ain't DEADLY !!
Go Dana !!
ABC News ran a great story a little while back on the indigenous prodigy which we have published before.
It's a great read with some nice insights, so here it is again if you missed it:
THEY SAY EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS and that is true for boxer Dana Coolwell !
The 25-year-old from the Queensland town of Beerwah, roughly an hour's drive north of Brisbane, could have the eyes of over 550 million households worldwide tuning into his fight when he features on Netflix's maiden livestream boxing event in November.
ABC Sport can reveal the Mununjali man, who is the 16th-ranked featherweight in world boxing, will fight undefeated American Bruce Carrington on the undercard of Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
The fight will take place at the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, with 80,000 spectators expected to pack the Arlington stadium on November 16, AEDT.
"It's life-changing," a humble, softly-spoken Coolwell said.
"It'll be one of the biggest events a fighter from Australia has fought on and I'm very grateful for this opportunity and I just really want to showcase my skills to the world of boxing and put my name in that mix of the world class boxers."
The massive bout for Coolwell, nicknamed Deadly, is in stark contrast to his last fight in March.
He improved his record to 13-2 with a win in front of a sold-out crowd of 500 people at the Caloundra RSL.
It is a moment that Coolwell believes he will thrive in and make the world take notice of his potential.
"I'm just making the walk out to the stage into the ring, and just imagining the crowd. But I think I'll rise to the occasion and feed off the crowd, and it'll bring out the best of me.
"These are the type of fight cards people dream of being on and I'm just really grateful that I get to be a part of it, part of history and fight in front of that many fight fans."
The fight card will be streamed by Netflix and will be available their millions of subscribers.
Sports commentator Renee Gartner said the unique opportunity for Coolwell to fight with potentially hundreds of millions of people watching can become a major moment for the young fighter.
"This is the biggest exposure Dana's possibly gonna be able to get," she said.
"People are gonna be seeing him for the first time on an international stage and beamed into households, 550 million households are worldwide, is going to put his name on everyone's lips.
"This whole undercard is absolutely stacked … We have some of the best female fighters, male fighters, everyone who's a boxing enthusiast is watching it."
"What's the topic of conversation at the moment? It's all about the cost of living and how hard it is for all of us to sort of dip in the pocket.
"People in Australia use sport as a way to sort of escape from the realities of what we're sort of doing on day-to-day life."
Coolwell believes in the American dream
The Australian will head to the United States in the coming weeks, landing in California where he will start his training camp in Santa Monica.
New York-born Carrington, who is undefeated through 13 professional fights, has been on Coolwell's radar for a while according to his coach Stephen Pitt.
"We've wanted the Bruce Carrington fight for a while," he said.
"He's a very well respected and very well liked American boxer … They think he's gonna be next world champion."
While praising the American challenger, Pitt said he believes Coolwell is in equal class to some of the best fighters in the world.
Pitt, who trains Coolwell out of the Hinterland Boxing Club, said he believes his fighter has always had the makings of being Australia's next world champion.
"I've known Dana's a star since he walked in my gym 12 years ago," he said.
"The entire world's going to see what I've known for a long time.
"You know we're not the underdog, we're the underestimated.
"Texans love Australians, Dana's a very likeable young man, he performs well, he speaks well, he holds himself well and we believe that the Americans will adore him."
If he defeats Carrington in his own backyard then he'll take a giant leap towards reeling in his world title opportunity.
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