Rising light heavyweight Conor Wallace (13-1, 10 knockouts) delivered a thrilling performance to stop the game Jack Gipp (7-1, 3 KOs) in the sixth round of their 10-round contest at the Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane, Australia on Sunday night.

Fighting in front of a sea of green on St Patrick’s Day, Brisbane-based Irish southpaw Wallace, 27, gave the crowd their money’s worth in the main event of a fight that was broadcast live on DAZN.

Gipp, the shorter man by four inches, stalked the hometown hero from the opening bell but was soon on the receiving end of a left cross, right hook combination from Wallace. Not to be deterred, he retaliated with a left hook, right cross of his own. Right before the bell Gipp connected with a right to the body followed by a left uppercut to the head that left Wallace bleeding from the nose as he returned to his corner.

A little bit of blood was never going to slow Wallace down.

“About two weeks ago in sparring I copped a shot on the nose that broke it,” Wallace revealed after the fight. “As you can see from my other fights, I never bleed. But I had a broken nose two weeks ago in sparring but I’m not joking you, if my left arm had been hanging off, I still would’ve been in this ring tonight.”

The give-and-take action continued in the second round, while in the third Gipp began finding a home for his big left hook, backing Wallace to the ropes. Wallace returned the favor midway through the round, unloading on Gipps as he grinned and spoke to the crowd over his shoulder.

Wallace was quickly off his stool to start the fourth but was met with a three-punch combo from Gipp. The left hook from Gipp continued to be his most dangerous weapon, while Wallace was starting to land his punches in bunches. Gipp landed a lead left uppercut late in the round.

Here's the stoppage in Conor Wallace's fight thanks to @tasmanfighters

Conor has serious power in both hands and loves a tear up pic.twitter.com/wOF7puP8js

— Boxing Tickets NI (@BoxingTicketsNI) March 17, 2024

Early in the fifth Gipp trapped Wallace on the ropes and unleashed a volley of shots, but Wallace shook them off, spinning out of the corner and landing a salvo of his own before the fight returned to center ring. By the time the bell rang, it seemed that Wallace had the ascendancy.

The pace slowed a little to start the sixth stanza, but not for long. In the back half of the round Wallace started letting his hands go, hurting Gipp and cornering him on the ropes where he launched a two-fisted assault. The 25-year-old Gipp, from Mornington in Victoria, crumpled to the canvas.

Referee Paul Tapley applied the mandatory eight count and took a long, hard look at Gipp before giving him the benefit of the doubt to continue.

Wallace was never going to let him off the hook, teeing off on Gipp as he covered up. A handful of shots landed including one final, flush left cross that sent Gipp to the canvas for the second time, just as Tapley was moving in to stop the contest. The official time was 2:48 of round number six.

“As we said at the weigh-in, if he wants to bang we can bang, if he want to box we can box. I think we did a bit of everything,” an ecstatic Wallace said after the fight.

“My coach Greg Eadie is one of the best in the game. He told me Jack is going to come out hard, so be ready for him. I said I’m ready for anything. Without Greg, none of this would be possible.

“I think I got to showcase some of my skills tonight and my toughness. It’s not good for my mother watching at home, but it’s all part and parcel of this game and that’s why the fans turn out and love it.”

Wallace and Gipp displayed other good sportsmanship towards each other before, during and after the bout.

“Going in to this fight I knew Conor would probably be the hardest fight of my career,” said Gipp, who had bruising and swelling under right eye and a small nick over his left.

“The game plan was to get into the position to land the left rip, left uppercut. It was working too until I got caught and he peeled me open.

“I’m still getting used to light heavyweight. I’ve still got a lot of room to grow into this division, to get bigger, get stronger. Maybe down the line we can do it all again.”

That is unlikely to happen any time soon with Wallace’s promoter Mick Francis pushing for his boxer to land a slot on a high profile international card next.

“Anyone that knows boxing knows that was possibly the fight of the year,” the Tasman Fighters chief said. “I think we’re going to be hard pressed to find a fight better than that this year.

“They are the two best [boxers in the weight class] here in Australian and New Zealand. There’s no one else left for Conor Walllace to face. We’re probably going to have to look at going overseas from here on in and rightly so, he deserves it. We need to move on to bigger and better things.

“Conor is doing some good numbers [on DAZN] over in Ireland every time he fight already, so hopefully we get on the Katie Taylor undercard in the next couple of months.”

That is what Wallace wants too.

“I’m moving on to bigger and better things,” Wallace said. “I’ve got the best manager in the game, Steve Deller, and Tasman Fighters behind me, so we’re keeping our options open.

“I’m definitely moving on overseas, right now.”