After a six-week boot camp, the Waitaki mayor is one of 22 local personalities selected to enter the ring on June 21 for the inaugural Portside Punch charity boxing event.
Mr Kircher has always considered himself active through football and regular exercise, but has never stepped into a boxing ring before.
''That's pretty much common for everyone involved that no-one has really done anything like this and it's been a big learning curve,'' he said.
Personal fitness was not the only motivation behind Mr Kircher putting his hand up for the event.
''In the last couple of years there's been a couple of people, who have been reasonably big influences in my life, who've had cancer and this is the sort of facility that could have helped during that time, if we'd had that locally,'' he said.
Training had been a challenge, but he was enjoying the journey with a great group of ''serious and focused'' competitors.
Apart from when mayoral duties did not allow it, he has spent most days working on personal fitness and strength at the Waitaki Recreation Centre, as well as attending official Portside Punch training sessions.
From 38 contenders at the start of the six-week boxing boot camp, technical boxing trainers Wayne and Jonathan Fisher-Hewitt had their work cut out for them to select the final 22 competitors.
''We had some outstanding athletes and it was just a shame we couldn't take everyone through,'' Wayne said.
''It was, in fact, some of our strongest competitors who missed out, purely because we could not match them with someone of a similar ability and weight.''
The father-son training duo said match-ups had to be based on clear similarities between the contenders, which included height, weight and boxing ability.
Tickets for the event, sold exclusively in 45 10-person tables for $2500 each, have sold out.
Organisers have been ''overwhelmed by the interest in the event'' and now have a waiting list for tables.
All proceeds from the Portside Punch charity boxing event will be donated to the Otago Community Hospice as it embarks on a major fundraising venture to build a hospice house in North Otago.
Final match-ups will be released in the coming weeks.
