Fighters from across the South Island and two from the North Island will test their skills when the Otago Boxing Association club championships take place tonight at the King's High School Performing Arts Centre.
Boxers from novice, youth and elite open categories will battle it out across 15 fights.
Otago Boxing President Bryan Usher said it was probably the strongest card Dunedin has seen for some time, and he was expecting some big performances.
The main event will be between three-time and current national middleweight champion Bowen Morgan, from Christchurch, and Fight Science Queenstown's Martin Mech.
Usher said both men fought earlier in the year, when the Phil Shatford-trained Morgan won, but Mech would have had his confidence boosted by a title win last week in Wellington.
Usher said Morgan has been undefeated for about the past three years and was a promising Commonwealth Games prospect, while Mech was a tough competitor who held nothing back.
The only female fight will see two-time North Island Golden Gloves champion, Summer Lake, take on Queenstown's Elizabeth Regan (Fight Science).
Usher said this was a highly anticipated bout between two up and coming lightweight boxers.
He said Lake (16) was only young, but already had a reputation of being one of the hardest-punching females in the country.
Regan was a busy boxer who competed a lot, so she would be no walkover.
In total, nine clubs will be competing, with 12 boxers from Otago representing four clubs.
They are Oamaru's Joe Cropley, Fight Science, Bonds, from Dunedin, and the Mosgiel based Olympic Gym.
He said to give young boxers the opportunity to box in front of a home crowd and promote the sport was exactly what the association wanted. Usher said the competition was also great preparation for next month's contest between Otago and Canterbury in Dunedin, which Otago won last year.
The first fight starts at 5pm.
The tournament is on the same night as the Southern Showdown but the clash could not be avoided, as dates had been set months ago.
Usher said the events appealed to different crowds.
