KEY POINTS:
Two Monty Bethams are fit and raring to go ahead of tonight's pro-boxing event at Sky City.
There's Monty Junior, who will take on Northlander Aaron Bartlett in his third professional bout, and then there's Monty Senior, proud of his son and hoping he goes "as far as he can".
As the fighters lined up to weigh in yesterday, Bartlett's trainer, Uaina Leatinuu, spent the time talking to Betham senior, now 55, who was his idol as he fought for New Zealand and Commonwealth belts in a career from 1973 to 1982.
He is sharing the benefit of that experience with Monty junior, 29, who is happy to accept it.
"He doesn't say much but when he does I listen, he doesn't sugar-coat anything," Monty junior said.
He and Bartlett are both rated as fitness fanatics, but from vastly different corners. Betham has the base as a professional athlete in league with the Warriors and Wakefield in Super League while Bartlett describes himself as a "bush boy" from Whakapara, north of Whangarei, who gets his fitness from farm, fishing and forestry work.
Bartlett said he hadn't been in too many lifts before turning up at the Sky Tower yesterday and he'd never seen one with so many buttons.
His biggest pro fights in a short career (two wins, one by KO, and five losses) have been in the Auckland Boxing Association ring in front of a couple of hundred fans, so tonight is a big night.
Bartlett, 35, weighed in at 81.3kg to Betham's 88.1kg but will enjoy a 6cm height advantage and longer reach.
He, too, is a relative newcomer to the ring, having been enticed by his younger brother Moses.
Right up to last night, television broadcasters were arguing over the order of the bouts. Clearly there is great interest in Betham's performance but the "headline" fight is an IBF Australasian and PABA title fight between Algerian-born Mohammed Azzaoui and Kenyan-born Peter Kariuki, who are both now resident here.
The pair offer differing styles, Azzaoui dancing his way to a 20-win, two-loss record, with seven knockouts, while Kariuki has a bigger punch, 14 wins with 13 KOs, six losses and two draws.
