“I think he’s probably five or six fights away from challenging for a world title,” Hearn told Raw Sports Media. “There’s many levels between DeAndre Savage and Joshua and Fury and those kind of guys, but he’s 11-0 now, so I think get him to 15, 16-0 and we’re going to have to find someone.”
The question is why he needs that much time.
This is not a young heavyweight learning how he wants to fight. His aggressive style was already established during his amateur career and remains largely unchanged as a professional. At the 2024 Olympics, he aggressively pursued Bakhodir Jalolov rather than treating the experienced Uzbek with excessive respect.
Two years later, the Australian Teremona is still overwhelming opponents with the same mix of size, speed, aggression and power.
The missing test is an opponent capable of surviving long enough to force something different from him.
“We’re going to have to find someone who can take him five, six, seven, eight, nine rounds, but it’s very difficult to stand up to the firepower,” Hearn said.
That sounds more like an argument for accelerating the competition than extending his development for another two years.
Hearn admits there is still a lot to learn about how Teremoana responds against a rugged heavyweight who can force him into a difficult fight. He believes Teremoana possesses the chin and heart required, but short fights haven’t provided the opportunity to demonstrate either.
Another series of opponents who disappear within two rounds won’t answer those questions. A serious contender might.
Teremoana’s greatest weapons are physical ones, and there is little reason to spend his late twenties protecting them. If he is as dangerous as he looks, the quickest way to find out is to start matching him like it.
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