Cameron Slater's first foray in to the boxing ring was a short one but he hasn't ruled out pulling on the gloves again.
The vocal right-wing blogger was knocked out in the first round of his celebrity bout against cricketer Jesse Ryder on the Super 8 fight card in Christchurch tonight.
"It's frightening. It's terrifying," Slater said. "But we did it for charity so I had to overcome those fears. I knew I was going to get banged around but it was for charity. I've raised, personally, over $5000 for KidsCan and I'm chuffed with that."
Slater rarely takes a backward step and it must have grated him somewhat that he had to fight out of the red corner, draped in red attire, given his political leanings. He dropped 17kg in the lead-up to the bout after training under veteran coach Henry Schuster.
"I'll do it again without such a mismatch but that's fine," Slater said. "I still did it; I still got in there."
Ryder, who came in to the fight as a hot favourite and wore blue, has used boxing for the past few years as part of his fitness regime as a professional cricketer.
The 30-year-old stepped in to the ring in 2012 against outspoken radio host Mark Watson. Ryder dispatched Watson via technical knockout in the first round.
Ryder, a former Black Cap with a history of off-field incidents, will head to England next month to link with county side Essex.
"He got me flush with one and that made me see the red mist a bit," Ryder said of the bout that lasted 1min, 1sec.
- by Daniel Richardson of NZME
