Michelle Nuku had her first corporate fight last year after a lifetime of playing softball, netball and touch. Photo/George Novak.
At least I won't get punched in the face. That's what I'm thinking as I pull on boxing gloves at TGA Box Health & Fitness.
I'm taking a Monday-morning women's cross-training class at the Judea gym. Before hitting the bags, instructor Leanne Hayson leads our group of about a dozen females in exercises such as bicep curls and overhead presses, squats and lunges.
My deltoids begin protesting as we jab punching bags - throwing strong, slower punches, followed by 30 seconds of speed work. I run up the Mount nearly every week, yet I'm huffing and puffing.
Ms Hayson moves us from one exercise to the next while Motley Crue's Dr Feelgood blares from speakers overhead. Catherine Campbell-Smith, 52, has been taking boxing fitness classes for two years. She says the pace is relentless. "I hate boxing, but this is really empowering and strength is something women need to think about. I just love it." She smiles and looks at Ms Hayson, joking, "I love some parts of it. It's the hardest thing I've done." Ms Hayson says. "It's very sociable, but they work hard."
Working hard alongside us is Amy Yorke. Unlike most other participants in boxing-style fitness classes, she's been a fighter. The 34-year-old dance studio owner/instructor and mum of two was inspired by a friend. "I saw him fight and was inspired and thought, 'I'd like to try that.' It's actually really hard and addictive." Mrs Yorke has trained at TGA Box for two corporate fights, which match novices of similar size.
"I'd never been hit before and had never thrown a punch in my life. The thought of punching another woman was hard to get my head around.''
She says she learned quickly through sparring and prepared herself mentally while training five times per week over six weeks.
"This training has made the most difference to my body in the shortest amount of time. I love the challenge. It's so outside my comfort zone." Yorke says the worst hit she took was a straight punch to the face that resulted in a mild concussion. "It was no big deal. I should have kept my guard up. I've never had a blood nose or black eye. I wore a mouth guard and head gear. I was well protected."
TGA Box owner and Tauranga Boxing Club head coach Chris Walker has taken amateur boxers to eight New Zealand championship titles and coached three boxers for the Commonwealth Games. Walker says corporate boxing, also known as white-collar boxing, has grown in popularity, with around 85 such fights planned nationwide this year.
"Crikey, go back 12 years, there would've been none." Walker says different rules for corporates, including three, two-minute rounds (professional matches can last up to 12 rounds of three minutes each); heavier gloves with more padding and a rule that fighters be within five kilograms of each other and have similar experience, ensure the sport is safe and fair.
The referees and judge realise it's corporate, too. They give people opportunities to recover.
Walker says if someone gets hit, a ref can give a standing eight count, meaning the boxer gets eight seconds to recover.
Walker stages two corporate fights a year. He says his most successful fight, Lord of the Ring, in 2012, raised $81,000 for charity, more than $70,000 of which benefited Waipuna Hospice. The event included professionals such as a police detective, real estate agent and former model. "We sold 110 corporate tables. It was the first big corporate boxing event in Tauranga," says Walker.
TGA Box's next main event, on August 22, is the Clash of the Corporates 3. It's headed by an international title bout, with Anthony Taylor of Tauranga, the NZ professional welterweight champ, versus Queensland super-lightweight champion Darren Askew.
"Corporates are the lead-in," Walker says. "It's good entertainment for everyone to watch someone you know jump in the ring."
James Fox plans to be one of the lead-in fighters for Clash of the Corporates 3. The 23-year-old Tauranga civil engineer says he had his first corporate fight while at university in Christchurch. "I loved the experience. I got a bit of a beating and learned a few things. It wasn't for a charity - just for you, really, kind of like a boot camp. You just beat the s*** out of someone at the end of it."
Mr Fox ended that fight with cuts to the nose and mouth.
"The ref stopped the fight so I could get my face wiped down.
"The towel was covered in blood afterwards. It sounds like back-alley stuff, but it was really well done. If it was bad the ref would've stopped it."
Fox will step out next month before hundreds of spectators, including friends, family and colleagues. "It makes me train harder. It's more serious and ... a good chance to test yourself."
Chris Walker says corporate fights are about getting correct and fair match-ups, "that's the key". He says doctors attend the fights.
Another trainer, Whare Tipene of the Mana Tangata Tauranga Moana club, says his corporate fighters have no ring experience, and police checks ensure they have no history of violent crime or gang ties. "They have blood tests now for HIV and hepatitis, for the safety of referees. Every fighter gets a medical check ... Corporate fighting is quite safe.
The towel was covered in blood afterwards. It sounds like back-alley stuff, but it was really well done. If it was bad the ref would've stopped it.
Seldom does someone get knocked out." Mana Tangata is staging two corporate bouts this year. The community club will hold a fight on November 7 at the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre to assist the Tauranga Food Bank. The club's May event raised nearly $10,000 for Women's Refuge, Wish 4 Fish and Kids Love Kai.
Tipene says 40 would-be boxers who registered interest through Facebook started free training this past week in his Judea home's basement gym. The ring consists of ropes surrounding a carpeted concrete floor. Punching bags hang outside the ring, and signs on it saying, "TRAIN HARD TRAIN TO WIN" and "SAVE THE MOANING FOR THE BEDROOM!!!".
This is where amateur boxer and Mount Maunganui's Clubfit assistant manager, Michelle Nuku, trains. The 28-year-old had her first corporate fight last year after a lifetime of playing softball, netball and touch. "This was an individual sport. It was all about myself and growing as a potential boxer," Ms Nuku says.
"At first, I was a little bit scared. I thought, 'What the heck was I doing?' Getting punched in the face does hurt, but you learn to deal with that through perseverance.
"The more sparring you do, the easier it is to be able to prepare yourself and protect yourself. I get a kick out of it. It sounds weird, but I do, because I think there's a learning opportunity."
Ms Nuku says most health club members, including those taking a Body Combat class at Clubfit at 6am last Tuesday, will never set foot in the ring.
The Les Mills-branded class is 55 minutes of "martial arts-inspired cardio" to techno-pop music. No gloves or bags - just punching, kicking, lunging, hopping and strength training.
Brendon Arthur, one of four men in the class of 16, boxes with a personal trainer but has never fought: "I like the camaraderie and energy of the class. I know everyone's name in here."
Boxing NZ president Steve Mitchell says fitness classes can give participants a feel for training, but, "You certainly won't get pushed into the ring if it's not what you want to do". Mitchell says women's involvement at top international level has raised boxing's profile. Women fought at the Olympics for the first time in 2012 and debuted at the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
"We had a team of female fighters go to World Champs in Korea last year."
He says Boxing NZ has 700 registered competitive boxers. "But I'd guess our input into the community would be times 10 if you count those involved in fitness programmes."
Back at the cross-training class, we move from the punching bags to the workout floor for 100 sit-ups while passing a 10kg plate to a partner. My abdominals beg for mercy at the halfway mark. My well-toned partner assures me I can skip every other repetition.
At least I won't get punched in the face.
Injuries - Boxing v Jogging, Touch Rugby
ACC Injury comparisons - Bay of Plenty
Boxing: July 2014-June 2015 Total cost 219 new claims/253 active claims $198,722 July 2010-June 2011 133 new claims/162 active claims $92,255
Jogging: July 2014-June 2015 Total cost !925 new claims/1168 active claims $496,686 July 2010-June 2011 !582 new claims/721 active claims $271,656
Touch Rugby: July 2014-June 2015 Total cost 710 new claims/857 active claims $875,209 July 2010-June 2011 642 new claims/758 active claims $696,522
active = claims where ACC made payments in the year, even though an accident may have happened in a previous year
Source: ACC Injury Statistics Tool, www.acc.co.nz
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