Fagan happy to be battered for $833,000

By AINSLEY THOMSON

Two fading black eyes are a reminder of the beating world champion shearer David Fagan took for charity.

During the Fight for Life last week, viewers watched with growing discomfort as Fagan - the hard man of shearing - was punched relentlessly around the ring by actor Manu Bennett.

Fagan's nose seemed to take most of the punishment, exploding in blood after one of Bennett's punches connected. Remarkably, it wasn't broken.

Even more remarkably, 42-year-old Fagan says he would do it all again - he even enjoyed it.

"It was good fun. It was probably the most fun I've had for years."

And it was all for a good cause. It helped raise $833,000 for the Meningitis Trust.

Fagan is a 14-time national open shearing champion and 15-time winner of the Golden Shears, but he had never boxed before stepping into the ring with Bennett.

He had just arrived back from shearing competitions in Canada and Wales and had had a chance to train only a couple of times.

Bennett, he later found out, had been training twice a day since he was asked to box in the charity event.

"To be fair to Manu, I don't think it would have mattered how much training I did. He was in a different league."

Fagan's wife, Wendy, said her husband had never been involved in a fight at the pub, let alone in an organised boxing match.

She was not worried about her husband's safety. "I think I surprised everyone when I yelled, 'You're tougher than that, David. Get up'."

After the match Fagan's nose would not stop bleeding. The couple have a blood-caked towel as a reminder.

"A bit of blood doesn't hurt anyone, if that's what it takes to raise some money," Fagan said.

The pair have been inundated with calls from friends and family checking that Fagan was not hurt. All the callers were surprised to hear his nose was not broken.

Fagan said he would like to compete in the event next year if the organisers ask him - perhaps against a more evenly matched opponent.

There are no hard feelings towards Bennett. The pair have become friends and Bennett has rung Fagan at home in Te Kuiti a number of times.

"He was feeling bad about what he had done. But there's not a problem."

Meningitis Trust general manager Fiona Colbert said the money raised would help to provide community-based support and education, including financial grants to help people rebuild their lives.

Event organiser Dean Lonergan said lessons had been learned from previous controversy about the event's expenses and costs were capped this year.

The event cost $490,000 to put on, with TV3 paying a fee of $295,000 to Dean Lonergan Events Ltd. The event grossed $1.32 million.

- additional reporting Nicola Boyes