KEY POINTS:
There is something enchanting about any boxing gym.
Maybe it is because they are portrayed as the stuff of dreams, where the underdog gets a shot at glory. The movies certainly love them.
Boxing gyms are a little scruffy, and demand at least one old fight poster on the wall.
Every bit of tape or rope is there for a reason. Substance also rules over style when bits of equipment are repaired or reinvented.
A boxing gym is a world of essentials, because boxers know their good health may depend on that.
If you interview a boxer you've got to do it in a gym because it gets the juices flowing, sensing the drama and the danger.
Which brings us to Shane Cameron.
It's his day off from training, but we meet in his downtown Parnell base.
It's a classic gym scene, although a few sweaty contenders are outnumbered by the lunchtime get-fit crowd. Corporate boxers, if you like.
Cameron is a top dog for now, having beaten every opponent in his four-year professional career. But in the wider boxing world he's also the underdog, desperate for that shot at a big heavyweight title.
In two weeks' time Cameron - the explosive 29-year-old - will face his 19th professional opponent since he won bronze at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
He has built a steady army of admirers, his honest, farmboy manner impressing alongside the wins against men most of us have never heard of.
These victories have given him a top-15 IBF ranking and a world rating of 37. He holds IBF and WBA belts.
Boxing is a world of sneaky deals and shattered reputations, but Cameron's mana seems to grow.
His next opponent is Kelvin Davis, a 29-year-old from Reno, Nevada, who sports facial tattoos and was a very brief IBF cruiserweight champion three years ago.
Davis and Cameron are the main attraction on the Fight for Life boxing card at Trusts Stadium, Waitakere, on June 28. Charity, though, is not high on Cameron's mind.
"We've been looking at Kelvin Davis for a while - he's got a good name, a very explosive fighter," says Cameron.
"I'm used to taller guys so this will be good - you need to be equipped for every situation. As the bigger guy I'll be manhandling him, pushing him back.
"The fights I've seen, he's always in great shape. He throws good combinations, steps out into the firing zone though, which is a good time to tag him.
"Then again he may be working on his weaknesses. So you can't bank on these things."
Reliability is a Cameron trait. You can bank on his preparation and thirst for a fiery contest.
His is an enchanting story by the standards of boxing's mean streets, that of a latecomer from the rural hills who unleashed a long-held pugilist ambition.
He is one of three sons raised by their parents Graeme - a farmworker - and Polly in tiny Tiniroto, which sits between Hawkes Bay and Poverty Bay.
Childhood memories are treasured, if not filled with actual treasures. They include milking a cow in the early morn before walking to school the long way, a 10km hike to pick up friends who lived in disparate directions.
The boxing influence came from a grandfather, who had come to New Zealand from Scotland as a youngster. The stories flowed.
"He was quite a good boxer, it was the Depression years though and there was no money in it," says Cameron.
"He was only a welterweight and would spar against the visiting professional heavyweights for a bit of money.
"I look back at it now and think, 'Jesus, there must have been blood for miles'.
"They had no headgear, no mouth guard, little horse hair gloves. Just like today, they would try and knock each other out in sparring."
Country living meant Cameron initially bypassed the ring. Unlike his brothers, he loved farm life and often assisted his father with musters and the like.
This is where his story gets a b bit chewy.
There is no delicate way of putting this. Part of Cameron's career as a shepherd involved biting off lamb's balls - or mountain oysters as they are known in certain parts.
"It's how we castrated the lambs at docking time," he says.
"It's a tradition although many places have got a device for doing it now.
"They are a real delicacy. We'd pan fry them at the end of the day - if anyone gives you lamb's balls, it's like Christmas.
"The docking crew would do most of it, but I might have done a few hundred a day."
He demonstrates the procedure, which involves cutting the pouch, squeezing the little delicacies out, sitting the lamb on a rail, and then ... snap.
"People think I'm telling stories, that it's a joke," he says, with a smile.
"But if you are from the farm or know anything about farming, you'd understand."
Every boxer needs at least one ripping story from the early days. They'd certainly have trouble matching this one in the Bronx.
Enough said about that.
SHEPHERDING was to fall by the wayside. Cameron headed to England in his late teens, living in Petersfield, Hampshire, southwest of London. The boxing urge overwhelmed him one day, he quickly found a gymnasium in nearby Waterlooville, and made an impact from the word go.
There was early pain when he was bullied by a show-off in his very first sparring session. But a few months later, he knocked out his first ever opponent.
"I remember being in the changing room before the fight thinking, 'What the hell am I putting myself through'.
"Afterwards, it was, 'Yeaaaah, when's the next one coming'."
Two years into his career he was ranked third among English amateur heavyweights.
So, to the highlights so far.
In, 2005, Cameron was called up as a sparring partner for Mike Tyson in Phoenix.
Tyson is a hero of his.
"I'd never met the guy and he comes into the gym swearing and cursing, saying he didn't want all the cameras in there," he says.
"Then his trainer, Jeff Fenech, comes up and says, 'Mike's in a bad mood today - Shane, you're sparring first'.
"I thought, 'Uh oh'. I tried not to think about who he was but then I turned around and there was Mike Tyson, rolling his neck.
"Then he ran across the ring and got straight in to me. I was going, 'Oh shit'. It was a massive spar, explosive - I wish we could have videoed it."
Cameron decided to give as good as he got and by the end of a 12-day stint, had won respect from a man who has trouble winning it himself.
Cameron does a very good, slightly squeaky Tyson voice-imitation at this point.
"He said, 'I didn't realise they breed tough guys like you down in New Zealand - keep those body shots going Shane. You hurt me to the body'.
"That was great - he didn't need to tell me that."
His fight highlight was the latest victory over Australian warhorse Bob Mirovic - a former champion - in Sydney in March.
The circumstances of the victory were exceptional. Cameron broke his right hand in the first round when landing a blow to the top of Mirovic's head.
Having to rely on the left, he knocked Mirovic out with a hook in the eighth round. Maybe Cameron has found a new weapon.
Davis awaits, but boxing wouldn't be boxing if there wasn't a swirl of other possibilities.
There is repeated conjecture about a fight with David Tua.
The former champion New Zealand wrestler Kenny Reinsfield, operating under the management of businessmen Eric Watson and Mark Hotchin, is Cameron's handler.
Reinsfield offered Tua a profit-share deal, and then a straight $250,000 fee. Tua, with his eye on a greater prize, has so far declined this invitation.
There is also talk of Cameron fighting Evander Holyfield - another of his heroes - if the former world heavyweight champion should lose his next fight at the end of this month.
Cameron says: "My long term goal is a world title fight, definitely.
"I'm not in the sport for fun. It's to become the champion of the world, and set myself up financially for the rest of my life."
These are the sentiments of boxing through the ages.
Behind Cameron, there is a giant picture of Muhammad Ali snarling over the fallen thug Sonny Liston, the beauty and brutality of this sport captured in one.
Will Shane Cameron get his shot one day?
For all its troubles, boxing survives on these courageous dreams - spend some time in a gym and you leave both fascinated and drawn towards them.
Shane Cameron
* Known as: Mountain Warrior
* Age: 29
* Amateur highlight: Commonwealth Games bronze
* Pro record: 18-0 (16kos)
* Trainer: Lolo Heimuli. Before that, it went Henry Schuster, Danny Codling, Schuster again.
* Management: Knockout Boxing, owned by Eric Watson and Mark Hotchin. His manager is former Commonwealth Games wrestling silver medallist Ken Reinsfield. Previously, there was a brief spell under the Warriors wing. The Warriors' controversial former chief executive Mick Watson is no longer in the Cameron camp.
* Family: Cameron's parents still live in Tiniroto, outside Gisborne. He has a 2-year-old daughter, Georgia, who lives with her mother in Feilding. Cameron has plenty of contact. "People ask her what daddy does and she says, 'Punch, punch', and throws a punch in the air."
* Best punch: The one that floored 41-year-old Bob Mirovic. "The Australians rate him highly and I got a lot of exposure out of that, credibility. Mirovic fought world champions who couldn't knock him out like that."
* Best punch (received): "The Australian Colin Wilson got me with a shot on the top of the head which wobbled me for a few seconds. It was a bit of a shock. I've never been down."
* Next opponent: Kelvin Davis is a stocky ex-cruiserweight champ who has fought as a heavyweight in his last six bouts, with mixed results. Cameron will have a significant size advantage, although he will trim to around 103kg to deal with a speedier-than-usual opponent who has weighed in recently at 94kg.
* Mantra: "I don't take anyone lightly. I train the same for every fight. Actually, I like fighting the tougher guys. It gets your mind on the job a lot more, brings the best out of me."
* On his right hand injury: "No niggles. There's a bit of a bump, excess bone, but it's gradually reducing. The knuckle has dropped a bit but it isn't bothering me in training."
* On ability: "Either you've got it or you haven't. Although in saying that, you need a good trainer. I've gone through a few and they've all taught me what I need to be taught at the time."
