Boxing: Jackson ready for next bout

Gunnar Jackson (right). Photo / Getty

Gunnar Jackson has the day off work today.

The Tauranga middleweight boxer only gets a Friday off when he has a fight on Saturday; otherwise he spends his weeks working 11-hour days as a drainlayer.

It's a physical line of employment and a tough one to balance around full-time training in one of the most gruelling sports available but he will climb in the ring on the North Shore tomorrow night to defend his WBO Oriental title against Australian Nathan Carroll (10-2-1).

"I'm feeling awesome; looking forward to this fight. It couldn't come quick enough so we are definitely prepared for it," Jackson said.

The 28-year-old is eager to lace up his gloves again having only fought once in the past 10 months. His previous bout, a TKO victory over Kurt Bahram (13-5-1) in Hamilton in November, lasted less than one round after Bahram sustained a deep cut above his right eye and the fight was waved off.

"There's no ring rust," Jackson said. "Everything's still there, so come Saturday night, we'll be raring to go."

Jackson (20-5-3) is perhaps best known for taking a bout with Anthony Mundine (47-6) on short notice 14 months ago and he surprised many on both sides of the Tasman when he took the former world champion the distance before losing a unanimous decision.

His toughness has never been in question but Jackson wants to develop better power in his fists as he starts to mature in his career.

"My training's remained the same but I've done more strength training because I've lacked power over the years. So I've just upped my strength programme," he said.

"That's what I want to try and do now from here on is try and get the fights finished early because I've been 10-12 rounds a few times now and I want to try and perfect that power punch and try and put guys away early."

Jackson is ranked 15th in the WBO but hasn't created a ripple among boxing's three other major sanctioning bodies.

"Opportunities will arise if we are victorious this weekend," he said.

Carroll is a former Australian champion and at 1.83m, he will have a height and reach advantage over the 1.75m Jackson; the bout is scheduled for 10 rounds.

"We know he's a tidy boxer and works angles," Jackson said of his opponent. "So we've approached it with that kind of style in training. We've definitely got a good gameplan coming up for this Saturday."

Despite holding a respected belt and ranking, Jackson hasn't been spotted on televised cards from Kiwi promoters Duco and Sky Arena but he hoped that would change.
"I need to get on to those shows so people know who I am."