Featherston kick boxer Kirk Davis is thriving as he prepares for his opening bout at the Muay Thai world championships in Thailand on Sunday.
His coach, Sue Latta, who is also managing the New Zealand team, emailed the Wairarapa Times-Age yesterday with the news that Davis was "going great" in training
and was close to the allowed fighting weight in his junior grade of 60kg.
A normal training day for Davis sees him up at 6.30am for an 8km run. He then does some shadow boxing and stretching in the gym before working vigourously for about an hour in the ring or on bags. That is followed by some grappling and sit-ups before he breakfasts at 10am and heads off for a midday nap.
In the afternoon, Davis is again in the gym and repeats the morning routine except that the run is over 4km.
"We need him to be fit and ready and everything is going in the right direction," Latta said. "He's still got about 1.5kg to drop in weight but we're confident that won't be a problem."
Davis' mother Kelly is also in Thailand, assisting with the coaching of her son and also attending international judging and refereeing courses. She was with Kirk when he met one his idols, Jabba, from the American television show The Contender.
A total of 86 countries will be represented at the world champs with about 1000 fighters participating over a full range of weights and divisions. Latta says the opposition confronting the Kiwis will be "huge" but she remains optimistic they will bring home their share of medals.
