The Gore Boxing Club hosted a formidable cast of fighters from across the motu last Saturday in a 17-bout extravaganza featuring plenty nosebleeds, french-braided hair and a few TKOs, for good measure.
Auckland’s Peach Boxing Club came all the way down to Southland bringing their champion fighter Mea Motu, who gave a quick, inspirational pep-talk between rounds.
The club’s coach and owner Isaac Peach also brought down his son Zen, 10, for his debut fight.
Motu said the young boxer actually helped her train for all her world titles, at times offering honest, raw advice that only a child can give.
"He believed in me, he backed me, he taught me how to throw a right hand properly," she said.
"He didn’t sugarcoat anything, he was very honest and raw and that’s what I liked about him."
Zen won his 32-kg cadet bout against Woolston’s Isaia Rapata-Page and seemed overcome with emotion and relief when his hand was lifted into the air as the winner.
When asked how it felt, Zen said the whole thing was "tiring" and it looked it.
Motu said she was "nerve-wracked" watching the young fellow fight.
"Now I understand how he feels when I’m in that ring," she said.
The Auckland club also brought down Junior Utumapu, who went up against current New Zealand Golden Gloves super heavy weight champion Jordan Collins, from Wellington.
The crowd was arguably at it’s loudest during that over-91kg bout, where after several rounds of heavy-hitting and interventions from the referee, Utumapu was declared the winner.
Another bout that attracted a lot of noise was that of popular Gore sportsman Ryan McFaul, who clearly had a lot of fans in the audience chanting his name, but he ultimately lost to Papanui’s Mike Whitaker.
The Papanui fighters cleaned up with local Karina Barlow being no match for the relentless force of Jaime Gibbons in the only female fight of the night.
The night was not all lost for Gore however, as champion Jesse Hawken beat Peach’s Kyan Hand in the final fight of the night.
"A classy showing," Gore Boxing Club coach Russell Newton said of the bout.
A haka led by some of the club’s members also opened proceedings, organised by former Olympic and Commonwealth games coach Phil Shatford in honour of Mr Newton, who was his assistant from 2011-2014.
