Quade Cooper, Australia’s fly half was on Thursday pitted against Muay Thai veteran Barry Dunnett for his professional boxing debut scheduled in Brisbane next month.

The 24-year-old New Zealand-born back is currently honing his punching skills in Brisbane ahead of the charity bout which will keep him out of the Queensland Reds’ second and final pre-season trial.
At the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Febuary 8, 2013 on the undercard of close friend and former ‘All Black Sonny Bill Williams’ bout with Francois Botha, Cooper will confront a 32-year-old rival with some credentials as a fighter.

“He’s fought for a Queensland light heavyweight Thai boxing title. He’s had two pro-boxing fights, one win and one loss, in 2010,” Shannon King, whose Corporate Box facility Dunnett used for practice, was quoted as saying by the Brisbane Times.

“He’s not a basketball player turned boxer. It’s all he’s done for the past eight years as a sport. If he goes down, it will be because he’s sleeping, or because he’s got a rib pushing on a vital organ. He won’t give up,” King added.

The fight will force him to miss the Queensland Reds’ second and final pre-season trial, against the defending champion Chiefs, before the Super Rugby competition kicks off.

According to the report, Dunnett has fought 15 times under Muay Thai rules which allow the use of elbow and knee, and the pair will meet for the first time on Friday at a media session.

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