KEY POINTS:
Shane Cameron watched footage of Osborne Machimana fighting for the South Africa heavyweight boxing title and said nothing in his armour worried him.
Machimana, who took the title off Anton Nell and defended it last month, arrived in Christchurch yesterday to challenge Cameron for the World Boxing Association (WBA) Pan African heavyweight title.
The fight was postponed for a week after aircraft mechanical problems denied the South African a scheduled flight from Johannesburg.
He failed to board a later flight because he fell asleep.
Neither fighter was leaning on excuses before their 12-rounder on Friday, which will see Cameron enter the Cowles Stadium ring undefeated after 16 fights and Machimana with 12 wins, four losses and a draw.
"It was just a matter of backing off a wee bit and not peaking too early," Cameron's trainer Ken Reinfield said of the postponement.
"Shane's feeling great, he can't wait to get into the ring."
Cameron (1.88m tall) said Machimana (1.93m) looked big but he was confident he could handle the South African without too much problems after sparring with former world heavyweight contender Ed Mahone for three weeks.
The New Zealander was expected to weigh in at 105kg. Machimana, 28, is much heavier.
"Shane's last opponent (Nigerian Roger Izonritei in May this year) was 6ft 5" (1.95m) but he soon cut him down," Reinfield said.
Reinfield said Machimana had a strong background as an amateur, which meant he had a solid grounding in the sport.
"He looks to work off his jab quite a lot. He backs his right hand -- right cross. I think Shane's got more than enough guns to worry about that. Shane punches with both hands."
Machimana said his knowledge of Cameron was next to nothing.
"We've got a closed book on him -- we've no idea. We heard he was sliced up in his last fight," Machimana said.
- NZPA
