Sam Nicol has been boxing for as long as he can remember and, where his memory doesn't serve him well before that, he has his mother to fill in the gaps.
"Samuel's been boxing since he could walk. He used to wear gloves five times bigger than he should have been and headgear that was too large," says Andrea Nicol of her son, who jetted off yesterday to fight at the National Open Golden Gloves in Brisbane.
It's the first bout overseas for the 15-year-old from Taradale who fights out of the Hastings Giants Boxing Academy under trainer Craig McDougall.
The Don Tindall and the Caboolture Boxing Club amateur presentation starts today and ends on Sunday.
Nicol is fighting in the junior 46kg division but is clueless on other particulars.
"I know nothing except there are people in my weight division," said the Napier Boys' High School pupil before he stepped on to the scale for the weigh in at the Acacia Ridge Hotel convention centre today.
The annual promotion is touted as the "biggest" in Australia and New Zealand, catering for pugilists as young as 10 years old, from novice gloves to open divisions.
"The reason I'm going over is that we don't get too many fights over here," says Nicol who was intending to shed a kilogram before his first fight in Brisbane.
"I'm hoping to have two to three fights but I'll be happy with just one," says the teenager who boasts good hand speed, is a straight hitter and is adept at counter punching.
Nicol is undefeated since joining McDougall's stable last year.
His last fight was in June during the Central North Island Championship in Rotorua where he outpointed Keyanu Turner, of Hamilton.
"I would have preferred to have had a few more fights [before going to Brisbane]," he says.
Ironically he weighed in at the National Boxing Championship in Rotorua last month only to discover there were no opponents in his division.
Ditto in 2014, when he primed himself for the North Island Golden Gloves.
It is something McDougall reckons the New Zealand Boxing Council will have to address to ensure youngsters have a good base, especially someone such as Nicol, who is quite light for his age.
Entering the world of ring craft was not a case of if, but when, for the youngster whose grandfather Malcolm Nicol has been running the Palmerston North Boxing Club for more than four decades.
The senior Nicol remains the only Kiwi boxer to have defeated four-time national lightweight champion Billy Graham, who went on to claim an Australasian title and the Jamieson Belt for the most scientific boxer.
"Dad beat Billy in 1963 in the flyweight division when they were about 13 or 14 years old," says Andrea Nicol.
Graham, 68, who runs the Naenae Boxing Academy in Wellington, didn't turn professional and is a motivational speaker these days.
But Sam Nicol, who trains at the Hastings Giants gym twice a week, harbours dreams of not only representing New Zealand at the Olympic Games but also turning professional.
"It's just hard work, really. I'll have to train and sacrifice everything towards it," says the year 10 pupil, who has a gym set up in the garage at home.
His earliest recollection of slipping on gloves was at primary school in Palmerston North with his grandfather, at his gym on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
"My granddad used to tell me nothing beats a straight jab and I still remember that."
Nicol's first competitive bout was the East Coast Boxing Championship in Wairoa in 2011 and it was nerve-wracking. "I still do [find it nerve wracking]."
That tension isn't from the fear of getting hit but simply of losing after all the hard work that goes into preparing.
But that night in Wairoa he loved boxing so much he wanted to get back into the ring straightaway for another rumble.
"I just loved getting into the ring and punching someone."
He suspects, as he grows older, the problem of finding opponents will disappear.
With about 50 per cent win-loss ratio, Nicol isn't shy to return to the drawing board to use the defeats as a learning tool via video footage.
McDougall has helped him with his counter punching and his footwork is becoming better.
"Sam's a great kid. He's a really good at training and does what I will ask him to do so that's why he's getting good results.
"You know how they say hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. Well, Sam works hard," says McDougall who is hoping to boost his training credentials with the overseas stint.
A thinker, Nicol's diligence flows on to his school.
"He's got NCEA level maths already and he's only a year 10."
McDougall is expecting "organised chaos", based on feedback, with more than 300 entries at the Golden Gloves.
He's hoping Nicol will win his first bout to progress to another tomorrow.
Failing that, they intend to spend time sparring at some Brisbane clubs to make the trip a productive one.
"They are very welcoming there so it's about grabbing our opportunities over the five days there."
McDougall says the fight will add to Nicol's resume in trying to beat opponents for the Oceania Championship on the way to making the cut for the Youth Commonwealth Games.
The Giants academy is indebted to the Hastings Karamu Rotary Club for a "generous donation" towards the trip.
Nicol has raised funds from a carwash and intends to hold a firewood sale while his former Bledisloe School will organise a disco to add towards meeting the cost.