Explosion series to hit NZ

FIGHTING FIT: Josh Bowman training at the Whangarei Boxing Gym ahead of the international Boxing Explosion 3 event, to be held in Whangarei on June 14.PHOTO/JOHN STONE

Whangarei gym owner organises global event

FORGET about Joseph Parker and the Super 8 boxing event, Whangarei has its own international boxing event coming in three weeks.

Whangarei Boxing Gym is hosting Mexico, Tahiti, the United States and New Zealand on June 14 at the ASB Leisure Centre in Kensington for Boxing Explosion 3.

Now let's not confuse this with the hype of pay-per-view boxing, this is real, skilled boxing that will see seven Commonwealth Games-qualified boxers in Whangarei - including New Zealand's first ever female Olympic boxer Alexis Pritchard, who fought at the London Olympics.

Owner of Whangarei Boxing Gym Tim Bowman has gone out on a limb to host this event, organising essentially everything.

For Tim, he has a couple of secret weapons up his sleeve for the event - local boxers Deanne Carpenter and Josh Bowman, who are both national champions.

"This is real boxing," Tim said. "The local boy Josh is pretty popular with a lot of people and is an exciting fighter, and that'll be on display on the night.

"There's not that many 75kg fighters around who can take his punching, he's very strong."

While an opponent for Bowman and Carpenter has yet to be confirmed, there is no doubting the event will have local appeal and plenty of skill on display.

Tim noted the event had grown legs since it was suggested he host a New Zealand leg, after the previous two Boxing Explosions had been hosted in Tahiti.

"We've attended both of them and we kind of sat around and talked about it and I said it's probably a good idea if I do Boxing Explosion in New Zealand.

"The event we went to [in Tahiti] had three fight nights in two weeks, but I said it was way too difficult for us to organise that - it had just get out of hand. In Tahiti, it's a little bit different because the airport is within 20 minutes of where it is, so it's not an issue picking people up. We're just going to have the one night and maybe a couple of them might fight twice, just to give them a different chance with somebody else - because we have quite a variety of boxers who are at the top."

Since those talks in Tahiti, Tim said the Americans have come along and said Boxing Explosion 4 will be in the United States.

Come game day, Tim thinks it will all become real for him but his hopes from the night are simple.

"I think I'll just be more than happy on the day, in all the lead-up to it there are a lot of problems.

"[But] it is a really good sport, I love it. I'd hope for sold out event too. There has been a bit of interest from local companies but nobody is saying 'here's some money, we want a table', they're not really ready to buy now."

- For people who want to get in on the action, 10-person ringside corporate tables are available for $1200 or there are $30 tickets available for adults and $10 each for kids. To book a table or find out more, contact Tim on 027 333 3453.