Boxing: No love lost once they in the ring

Shaun Rankin and Angus Benson. PHOTO/Paul Taylor

Shaun Rankin is eyeing the $500 knockout bonus in tonight's Kings of Club Rugby Charity Boxing event in Hastings big time.

"Our twins [Marley and Harper] turn 4 on Sunday and their birthday present request list is a big one," Rankin said after his final training session on Thursday for tonight's feature bout against his Maraenui rugby teammate, Angus Benson.

Although Rankin is 4kg lighter than Benson, he is banking on his superior fitness levels and experience (four corporate boxing bouts to Benson's none) to give him a victory against fellow kickboxer Benson in the fight which is scheduled for three two-minute rounds.

A fitness instructor who runs his own elite training organisation, Rankin has been sparring with his twin brother and former kickboxer Steve Rankin, who is of similar build to Benson, as part of his build-up. He is planning to become a professional boxer.

"I want to get on to the Super 8 circuit where there is some good money," he added.

There is also prize money for the best entrance tonight. When asked if he was eyeing this also Rankin, 29, replied:

"No. My dancing is a bit messy ... that's another reason why I have to go for the knockout bonus."

Benson, 26, is a former professional kickboxer who intends to become a regular fighter again after giving up on his quest to make the Magpies ITM Cup squad.

"I realised that was going to take me five to six years. There's only money in rugby when you are contracted ... I didn't want to hold tackle bags for a season or two without pay.

"My goal is to make the King of the Ring kickboxing circuit ... hopefully I'll get noticed for that," the Jackals-trained Benson said.

While he is a teammate of Rankin, Benson said he won't have an issue with giving him a pounding in the ring.

"My biggest challenge will be resisting the urge to kick Shaun and I'm sure he will have the same problem."

There will be plenty of interest in the form of former Magpies prop Whetu Barber who will take on Hastings Rugby and Sports prop Dennis Tapusoa. Barber was considered by many pundits to be a controversial selection for tonight in the wake of the life ban handed to him last year by the Waikato Rugby Union for punching referee Mark Ray while playing for Otorohanga against Morrinsville in a Waikato premier B fixture.

The Kelt Capital-sponsored 13-bout event, which will be staged in front of a sellout crowd of 800 at Lindisfarne College, will be a fundraiser for the Jarrod Cunningham Trust and Auckland-based 9-year-old Lili Reynolds who was diagnosed with a brain tumour when she was 5. Last year, Lili was chosen by the Make a Wish Foundation and Team New Zealand to present the Duchess of Cambridge with a posy of flowers before she went sailing in Auckland.