Station of Origin: Cops to slug it out in the boxing ring

FIGHT NIGHT: Slade King (left) and Ra Wiki in action during the last corporate fight night in Rotorua. PHOTO/BEN FRASER

LOCAL police have undergone seven weeks of intense boxing training and are ready to get in the ring during the Station of Origin fight night in Rotorua.

The fight night is being held tonight at Rotorua Girls' High School, pitting police stations against one another in the boxing ring.

The fight card includes 13 bouts, 12 of which will feature policemen and policewomen, plus one professional fight. The first fight will start at 7pm.

The red corner will include representatives from the Rotorua and Tokoroa police stations, while the blue corner will feature fighters from the Tauranga, Te Puke, Whakatane and Opotiki stations.

RotoVegas Boxing Gym head coach Aaron Warren, who is helping organise the event and has trained the red team, said the Rotorua and Tokoroa fighters were in pretty good shape.

"They are looking pretty sharp," he said. "It is the best we can get them in seven weeks.

"At the end of the day they are not going to the Olympics or Commonwealth Games but they have learned all the basics of boxing and their fitness has definitely improved."

Warren said one of the fighters from the red team, Lafaele Filipo, had lost 15kg during the trainings and everyone else had lost at least 5kg.

The blue team (Eastern and Western Bay of Plenty) have been training longer than the red team (Central Bay of Plenty) but time will tell who is better off tonight.

Warren said the event had almost sold out but there was still a limited number of general admission tickets left, which could be purchased at the door for $30 tonight.

He said the crowd was well split between Central Bay supporters (red team) and Western and Eastern Bay supporters (blue team).

Money raised will go towards covering the costs of children in the community training at the RotoVegas Boxing Gym.

The main event tonight will be the professional debut of Rotorua's Tyrone Warren who will be fighting an experienced boxer from Auckland.

The Station of Origin fight night concept has been staged in Auckland before and was brought to the Bay of Plenty this year.