Renata Poa primed for kickboxing bout

Renata Poa is primed for her next fight - a kickboxing bout against Ashley Campbell at Balmoral Lee Gar's Born To Fight 2 on February 24. Photo / Monique Lively

Northland mixed martial artist Renata Poa is lacing her boots up for a different style of fight.

The MMA professional is taking on Waikato's Ashley Campbell in a kickboxing bout at ABA Stadium in Auckland on February 24 in the Balmoral Lee Gar-hosted Born To Fight 2.

Poa has been hard at working to prepare for the fight.

"This camp has probably been the toughest in terms of the travel and intensity levels," she said.

"I've got Mark Hunt's coaches (Balmoral Lee Gar's Lolo Heimuli and Oliver MMA's Steve Oliver) who are obviously at a high level, so when I'm in Auckland I train with them. We have our own strength and conditioning trainer who's come in and picked the level right up.

"The coaches are right behind me. Not just mentally, but physically too.

"I'm keeping close to home here but going down the line for what I can't get here."

Poa has split her training time between Auckland and her home gym, the Whangarei-based Lion's Den, where she trains under the eye of Ryan Anderson.

'The Kaipara Kid' has had to realign focus from her usual MMA training, which has had its challenges.

"MMA is everything. It's kickboxing, judo, boxing, Jiu Jitsu and the like. So it's just taking two elements out of there and using those," she said.

"It is a little bit of a struggle [to change disciplines]. It might not be for others but for me there are different stances and you don't have to focus on the ground game.

"You only have to worry about your hands and feet. It's hard to explain without being in the ring. It's different mentally. You have to play outside and inside games rather than worrying about take downs.

"But it's fun!"

Poa's training has been typically intense in the lead up to the bout. Three days a week she gets through five hours of hard work across a trio of sessions.

She said what she does in each session has become routine.

"Morning sessions will have an hour of a cardio circuit at 6am. From 9am to 11am we're working on skills. That's hands, footwork, combos, that sort of thing," she said.

"From 6pm through to 9pm, I'll train. There's a combo of strength and conditioning training, MMA, wrestling and Jiu Jitsu.

"So it's about five hours of training three times of week. The other days will be twice a day depending on the day before. My trainers will switch it up if my nutrition wasn't on point the day before or if I'm a bit fatigued. It's making sure we keep it balanced."

Taking on Campbell will be a real challenge for Poa. The Waikato professional boxer is ranked No 4 nationally and will be able to take a punch.

Campbell took on the fight at short notice after Poa's original opponent, Angie Davis, had to pull out due to injury.

Poa said she knows she's in for a tough fight with Campbell.

"She's the fourth ranked professional boxer in NZ. I expect the fight will be mainly boxing," she said.

"My original opponent [Davis] was a kick boxer. There was a post that went out from my promoters saying 'if you can knock me out, you'll win $2000' and she stepped up to the plate but unfortunately broke her ankle a few weeks ago.

"My team had to quickly find an opponent in the same weight category as me, which is nearly impossible, who was keen to fight me. Ashley then answered the call.

"I think she'll be a tough opponent. It'll be a good fight to test my hand skills."

Tickets to Born To Fight 2 are available at Dash Tickets with general admission starting at $40.