Berridge to be Anzac warrior on city's biggest boxing card

REMATCH: Angus Lyndsey of Wellington and Napier's Tipene Manipoto will meet tonight in a light-heavyweight bout at the Rise of the Fallen boxing card, having previously faced each other in Muay Thai competition.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO 240415WCSMBOXING3

The game of pugilism was the domain of gentlemen at the Wanganui RSA on Thursday evening as the media conference for tonight's Flava Rise of the Fallen card was a very civil affair between champions and contenders.

Taking turns and waiting to see if the other was done speaking before making their own case, rather than the snarling back and forth that has accompanied similar press events for other fights, the four boxers talked about their hard preparations, having arrived in Wanganui for four different corners.

Sporting a ding on his upper nose after "tough work" in his training camp in Melbourne, Waikato's Andy Robinson (4-2) agreed with his Wanganui-born opponent Robert Berridge (25-2-1) that honest nerves had their place before this main event fight, which was now for the IBO Oceania gold strap as well as Berridge's NZPBA light heavyweight belt.

While Berridge will be able to lift above his butterflies with the help of the Springvale Stadium crowd, which organisers want to reach 1300 capacity, Robinson has no problem going it alone.

"I'm used to being the underdog, that just goes with the territory - fighting in other people's towns."

The second fight of his 2015 comeback, with a third scheduled against Australian Rob Powdrill in October, Berridge also embraced the familiar feeling in the gut.

"I'm always nervous. If you're not nervous, something's wrong.

"It's 100 years of Anzac. Learning about my grandfather and great grandfather, it's great to go to war on Anzac."

His cousin and event co-organiser Paul Berridge confirmed on the night that 400 general tickets had sold along with the 400 corporate seats.

He and his partners were hoping to attract a decent crowd to the public weigh-in at Majestic Square yesterday afternoon in order to attract a good walkup for the 500 remaining seats.

"We definitely will showcase the biggest boxing event in Wanganui history," said Paul Berridge.

"This fight is good enough for Sky Arena, in my opinion.

"It doesn't have to be Wellington and Auckland. This is our [Manny] Pacquiao versus [Floyd] Mayweather."

The terms were also friendly between Taranaki's Daniel Maxwell (3-28-1) and the Wellington challenger for his NZPBA light middleweight crown, Blake Bell (0-1).

After winning the belt in February, although losing two non-title fights since, Maxwell said while he had the choice of three shows to appear at this weekend, one in Australia, he always wanted to appear on a card headlined by "The Butcher" Berridge.

Given a choice of opponent, Maxwell has been swapping text messages with Bell since Christmas to try to get the two of them together.

While Bell has a career outside the ring, he said boxing was what kept him going, as it got him into the best shape of his life.

"I'm here now, I'm putting in the work, and ready to show what I got.

"I plan on pushing the pace and hopefully I can get the win," he said.

As a journeyman fighter with over 60 amateur and professional bouts to his name, Maxwell was relishing the chance to be fighting a champion on a major card.

"It means the world. I've had a lot of ups and downs.

"I believe I've fought the best and I'm ready for this test."

As well as overall experience, Maxwell is conditioned for a championship-length bout as four of his previous fights have also been 10-round affairs.

"You've got time to work things out. They can go fast or they can go slow - that's what it's about."

Bell admits all he has been able to do is hard sparring to prepare for going that distance.

"I'm pushing myself to the limit when I'm training."

Yesterday, Robert Berridge and Andy Robinson each tipped the scales at 79kg, while Maxwell weighed 69.6km and Bell was 68.6km.

The other professional fight this evening will be a four-round light heavyweight match-up between Wellington's Angus Lyndsey and Napier's Tipene Manipoto.

Tickets are available until 12pm today from Stellar Restaurant and Fight Fit Gym for $35. On the door will be $45, with the doors opening at 6pm.