Five-time South Island champion Matt Eden will be headlining the third edition of Dunedin Kickboxing Prize Fight Championship on Saturday, March 28.
The event, taking place at the Edgar Centre’s Breeze Arena, marks Eden’s professional debut.
He will take on multiple New Zealand titleholder Alex Richings in a professional super middleweight K-1 bout.
Eden will be facing a tough opponent but is familiar with the challenges Richings brings to the ring.
"He’s been in the game a long time, I know who he is.
"I know he has got a lot of experience."
Eden has been involved in martial arts for most of his life, starting at about 10 years old.
"It kept me out of trouble at school.
"I started off doing Taekwondo and then I moved on to doing MMA, which I then trained in for quite a number of years.
"After that, I just jumped straight into kickboxing and I have done that ever since."
Keeping match-fit took up at least 16 hours a week, he said.
"That would be morning and night, basically twice a day, every day except Saturday, which is sparring and then Sunday, which is off.
"So it is quite a substantial amount of work to put into training."
Balancing his boxing regimen with running a business required strict discipline to ensure he was ready for competition, he said.
"I’ve got my own company as an arborist, so I’m very busy doing that as well."
While work has to come first he always makes room for his sport, guided by his coach Nick Taylor.
"You have to if you want to compete at a professional level.
"You can’t miss trainings, you can’t not show up in the morning, you have to be there continuously and be pretty consistent with your work over a long period of time."
Eden passes on that dedication to younger competitors as a coach at Dunedin Kickboxing.
"Nick is the head coach but I help out whenever I can.
"I help the guys get used to what it is like to fight."
His key advice was to keep showing up for sessions.
"There is no real excuses for missing training.
"If you can’t get a ride, there is a ride available, whatever it may be, there is no excuse for not showing up.
"So I make sure they work hard."
The Dunedin Kickboxing Prize Fight Championship will also feature Otago regional middleweight champion Gramos Rivers returning to defend his title against local contender Eren Bay.
Top national fighters will feature in a series of supporting bouts to complete the evening’s entertainment.
The event is a fundraiser for the Otago Community Hospice and two previous shows had raised $10,000.
— Visit iticket.co.nz and search "prize fight" for tickets.
