Small slip then fight hero boxes on

Photo / Jason Dorday

Herald on Sunday reporter Kieran "Bad News" Nash spent three months in a gruelling training regime to prepare for a charity boxing match at Auckland's Langham Hotel last month.

He beat his Air Force opponent, lived the life of a champion for a few hours - then fell back into old habits.

"I awoke a champion the morning after the fight with a hangover and sweaty, shaky hands. I needed food, bad food - and lots of it. Breakfast was 2kg of pancakes and a tub of icecream topped with a bucket of whipped cream. I spooned four sugars into a long black and downed that, then smoked three cigarettes. Aaah, bliss ... After that came a week's holiday, the focus of which was to eat every type of junk food on offer in Auckland.

On the rare occasion I left the house, strangers would look at me curiously. I glared back."What, you've never seen an oversize belt with CHAMPION written on it? Get your own."

Back at work, it was pies for brekky, coffees, after-work drinks and more cigarettes. My Sundays, which used to start with an early-morning run followed by muesli, now started with me scraping myself out of bed, and inhaling a mound of fried bacon. I was shocked by how quickly I slid from being a fit, lean machine to a slob.

So about a week ago I went to the supermarket and bought all those things I used to eat. I'm back to drinking lots of water and my brief sojourn with the smokes has ended. And I'm keen to cut down on the drink. No really, I am. And I'm still boxing. It's rather addictive-kind of like smoking, but with more fitness and less lung cancer."



The fight can be viewed at www.nzherald.co.nz Search for "bad news nash", with speech marks included.

The KidsCan Stand Tall Charitable Trust event raised more than $20,000 for NewZealand children in poverty.