Egelani Taito (Red) lands a swooping right hook against Tauramanui's Peraniko Crown. Photograph by Bevan Conley.
It's fight night at Rivercity Boxing Gym.
The families surge into the hall as children run beneath their feet.
Eddie Tofa greets me at the entrance. As the gym's head coach and organiser, tonight he's flat out, and I've kept him waiting for 10 minutes.
"You're late boy. If you got a slot you keep it, otherwise you've missed your shot," he says.
He stares at me intensely for a second before throwing his head back and giggling with laughter.
"That's alright...we're on island time. Here, you stick with me and I'll find someone to talk to, wait here," he says before rushing off into the crowd.
I make my way to an abandoned seat and ask an elderly woman if anyone's sitting in the vacant spot.
"Yes you are," she says before moving her bag to make space.
I'm here tonight to get a glimpse of the boxing scene in Whanganui.
Near the ring a small girl no older than 10, dressed in blue boxing shorts, is practicing her hooks and jabs while her coach watches.
It's a family friendly place.
Not a drop of booze to be seen in the hall, a policy in Eddie's gym even on fight night.
A voice from the speaker draws our attention to the centre of the ring. Eddie addresses the crowd. He thanks them for attending before leading the room in a prayer.
"... and to remember lord, it's not about winning it's about the good sportsmanship, In Jesus's name āmene "
The first two matches are between children.
Oversized gloves fly. Halfway though the second match, the young girl in blue boxing shorts wipes tears away from her eyes and raises her gloves only to have the ref stop the fight.
The third bout is when the adults enter the ring.
In the red corner weighing 84 kgs and representing Whanganui in his first fight is 25 year old Egelani Taito.
As the bell rings and the two fighters face off. His opponent in blue tries to keep the shorter Egelani at bay with jabs and straight punches, but Egelani moves his head and the blows miss their target.
Egelani bridges the gap between them, hurling thudding hooks to the head and body. His opponent backs away and gets caught by a double left, sending him to the canvas.
In the third round the attack continues as Egelani backs him into a corner. Overwhelmed, his opponent puts his hands up to defend his head. The ref stops the fight, with Egelani winning by a TKO.
In the changing room Egelani sits in the corner breathing deeply. As the winner he will fight again that night and he needs to slow his heart rate.
His coach Karl Hayward tells me the two teamed up three months ago when Egelani was 20 kgs heavier.
"As soon as I met him I knew there was something special there."
Karl tells me Egelangi works 12 hours a day at Tasman Tannery, but still makes time to come to training.
"He's got a huge heart, he trains so hard. Everyday he just does everything I throw at him."
During their time together the two have developed a strong bond.
"At the end of the day we haven't been together for long but I still class him like me son."
"The guy's awesome, such a nice guy."
Egelani came to New Zealand from Samoa seven years ago. His parents sent him so he could have a better life but along the way Egelani got into a bit of trouble.
"Let's just say he has a checkered past, but he's turned himself around."
"I've noticed such a change. He seems positive, he's into everything."
Karl tells me Egelani's story is typical of many boxers. He also went off the track as a young man but managed to change thanks to the sport.
The coach sees himself in his prodigy.
"I think he has it in him to take a national title."
If Egelani does take the national title he won't be the first to come from Whanganui.
The boxing scene began in the River City with the opening of the Wanganui Boxing Gym in 1937 by Harry Barlow. Throughout the fifties the gym hosted professional boxers and the national bantamweight champion Kevin Cronin.
During that time Whanganui middleweight fighter Brian Frew repeatedly missed the national title but was dubbed the best amateur New Zealand fighter in his weight by sports writer Brian O'Brian.
Towards the end of the decade the gym was taken over by the Chadfield brothers. Harry, Robby, Roy and David Chadfield partnered with the Police Boxing Club to train wayward youths. The club would go on to take several provincial titles around New Zealand.
The club's relationship with police in those day role extended beyond just boxing
"They would call us up and say 'we got a couple of gang members coming in from out of town can you come keep an eye on things'," says David Chadfield.
"So we used to go help them out, sometimes it got a bit rough."
In the 90s Whanganui hosted a fighter by the name of Reagan Foley. He would go on to be ranked the third best amateur light heavyweight boxer in the world.
The New Zealand light heavyweight champion and former IBO and Oceania Light Heavyweight champion Robbie Berridge was born in Whanganui. Ranked number ten middle weight boxer in the world by the WBO, the "Butcher' would sometimes travel back to the River City to train with his cousin Paul Berridge in later years. And in 2009 and 2010 brothers Luke and Jake Campbell took the national welterweight title.
But one of the most promising fighters to emerge from the gym in recent years is Eddie's own son Viki Tofa.
Eddie's eye brighten when he talks about his son.
"He come to me with big dreams 10 years ago say he want to be the heavyweight champion of the world," he says.
The two began at Rivercity Boxing Gym 10 years ago. From the the very beginning Eddie pushed Viki hard.
"So me and him [are] up four clock in the morning straight to the gym, 'come on boy let's see what you got'."
The work paid off. Viki would go on to take the junior heavyweight national title three times and represent New Zealand in the Arafura Games, in Darwin, Australia.
Dubbed the mini-Tua by his trainers, Viki was given the nod by his fellow Samoan boxer as a fighter with a promising future.
In 2014 he pushed pause on boxing to focus on rugby. He will fight tonight for the first time in two years. As he was training his son in those early days, Eddie's role at the gym expanded until one day in 2014 he got a call from the previous owners Jipsy and Ivan Lacy.
"They had enough, they needed a break. They ring me up and say 'you want to have a go'and I say 'hey give me the key see what I can do'."
He took over the gym with a plan to expand, moving the gym to larger premises in the Kaierau Rugby Clubrooms in 2016.
"I had this vision of 'hey I wanted to get out of there' because I wanted boxing to get a lot bigger."
Taking over the gym coincided with concerted attention on the issue of boxing safety with the death of Neville Knight during a charity boxing match at in Hamilton in 2016 and the death of Sydney fighter Davey Browne Jr in 2015.
While some may have their doubts about the safety of the sport, Eddie says it's no more dangerous than other New Zealand sports.
"I want to explain to them how many concussions in rugby? Most kids play rugby. If you look at the ACC list you'll never find boxing in there, but rugby is number one."
"I'm not saying boxing is safe but it's safer than most sports."
The statistics seem to back up Eddie's view. From June 2015 until July 2016 there were 5164 head injuries claimed from ACC as a result of rugby union, compared to 227 similar claims made for boxing.
"We want them to feel safe and comfortable before they go the ring. We say 'only when you are ready.' We teach them to protect themselves first."
Eddie believes boxing has the power to have a positive impact on the Whanganui community.
"Because that's a big problem now, the obesity in kids."
"My plan is not just in here, in the building. I want to take boxing out to the schools."
"I've got this vision to have a trailer full of gears. If they can't come here I'm going to take it to them."
He's seen first hand that boxing can transform the mindset of troubled youths.
"Because now they think they are worth something, they can achieve anything."
"When you win that's yours. Nobody else has done it for you."
His son's match is the last in the evening, facing off against 32-year-old Cory Enoka.
Like Egelani, Viki is shorter than his opponent. This doesn't stop him from ducking in to land the first blow of the match to the ribs of Enoka.
Shouts of "Go Viki" and "Get in there boy' can be heard from the crowd as the home town fighter slips his opponent's jabs to land swooping overhand rights to the head and hooks to the body.
Enoka seems to find his rhythm in the second round, landing clean straight punches. As the fight wore on both men tire, clinching in the centre of the ring.
In the clinch Viki snaps hooks to the body, muscling his opponent.
In the end Viki simply lands more shots and the judges award the fight to the home town favorite.
I catch up with Egelani later in the week. He's sore and tired but grinning from ear to ear.
"I need more fitness aye. I thought I was fit, but got to work on that. I was burning inside."
Winning both fights that night, he feels comfortable he can tell his mum back in Samoa he wants a future in boxing.
"She tell me: 'no don't do that'. But now I think she'll be good with it."
'He's really flourished and his love for the game is pretty inspirational.'