Haraki fights demons inside and outside ring

Hawke's Bay kickboxer Pane Haraki will be on a redemption mission when he fights at the King in the Ring 8-Man Eliminator event in Auckland tomorrow night.

"I was booked to fight in the event in 2011 but withdrew when Dad died ... now I've got the opportunity to redeem myself," Haraki said after completing his final padwork session with trainer Ben de Jong at the Angels Haven Gym in Hastings yesterday.

While the 100kg-class fighter won't know who he will meet in his first bout until after tomorrow night's draw, Haraki has fought against two of the other fighters who will front. One is national champions Antz Nansen, of Auckland, who has beaten Haraki twice, another is Tafa Misipati of South Auckland who has also beaten him.

A father of two girls, Haraki, 37, is no stranger to redemption missions. The bulk of his life, which has seen him experience the gang scene, prison and addiction has been all about redemption.

His late father Jack, who died of heart cancer, was involved in the gang scene. For six years of Haraki's life, from the age of 17 he was in and out of jail for burglaries or assaults.

During one of his prison stints, Haraki met an Auckland motorbike gang member who was involved in Muay Thai kickboxing. Upon his release, Haraki went to Auckland and took up Muay Thai and at the same time was introduced to methamphetamine.

He developed an addiction which would last until he was 30.

Two weeks after his youngest daughter Acacia was born, Haraki was sent back to prison on an assault charge. The beginning of this sentence was the roughest as the withdrawal from his meth addiction and the fact he left his youngest daughter weighed on him.

"In the cell I felt that I was going to commit suicide and I knew from then on that I could never do drugs again because they were going to kill me. Few people know how it feels to be truly hopeless," Haraki said.

He began forgiving himself and read the Bible from front to back in eight months. When he was released he refocused on his fight career and won a national heavyweight championship Muay Thai title last year.

Since turning professional three years ago, Haraki has recorded 16 wins and 11 losses. Earier this year he fought in Thailand.

"It was another 8-man elimination event. I never reached the 8-man segement as I lost to a Canadian in the 16-man qualifier. I really need a win," Haraki said as his attention returned to tomorrow night's event which will be televised live on Sky and has a $15,000 winner's purse.

"The money will come in handy," Haraki, who has been a level two Te Reo Maori student at EIT since July, said.

As part of his training regimen for tomorrow night Hastings Haraki has been running up Te Mata Peak twice a week. He has also been doing crossfit and was recently part of a team which finished fifth in a 17-team event which attracted teams from throughout Hawke's Bay and Manawatu.

Haraki is confident he can continue to fight for another two years before becoming a full-time trainer. He wants to train youth in crossfit, as well as mixed martial arts. "I want to pass on my knowledge to up and coming fighters."

With his background, Haraki will be in a perfect position to steer Hawke's Bay youth in the right direction. Later this month Haraki will travel to Amsterdam to train and fight with some of the best European fighters, including Moroccan-Dutch super heavyweight Badr Hari.

A two-time Hawke's Bay premier rugby league winner's medal recipient (once with Tamatea and once with EITSA) Haraki has been offered a berth in the OutKast Sports premier team next year in their quest for a third consecutive title.

"It will be good to play with a lot of my mates from previous teams again," Haraki added.

That's nine months away. There's a few different sorts of knocks to take and several redemption missions for Haraki to tick off before then.