Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

On Saturday night Sideline Sid shelled out a small fortune to watch the ‘Fight for Life' on Sky Television.

There would be many former boxing stars of the past that would turn in their graves if they could witness the commercialisation of boxing, where virtual novice boxers enter the ring in front of crowds that have little understanding of the sport.

However, we live in the modern world where bling and fast paced extravaganzas take centre stage.

In the last decade corporate boxing has brought the crowds back to what was always a blue-collar sport.

Boxing has its roots in the struggle for survival with many entering the ring from the streets of poverty to find the elusive pot of gold.

Enter corporate boxing in the last decade, where the white collar professional has a want to test his courage in the boxing ring.

From there the Fight for Life concept was born, where pugilistic novices enter the ring to entertain and raise money for charity.

On Saturday evening we saw the rebirth of the New Zealand Fight for Life shown live on Sky Arena to all that could afford it.

While initially against corporate boxing, Sideline Sid has become a convert.

In recent times, the Tauranga Boxing Club has run annual Fight Nights, where men and women who have been going to the gym for fitness reasons get to test their courage in the ring.

The key to the success of the Fight Nights is the contestants completing an introductory boxing skills course – and good match making.

On Saturday night the two key ingredients came together to produce a brilliant entertaining show.

All the boxers that entered the ring were fit and relatively well schooled in the basics of boxing.

The number one tool for survival in the squared ring is fitness.

A wide-open mouth gasping for breath tells the tale of missed training sessions.

Keeping the encouragement flowing in the corner between rounds were a number of familiar faces in the New Zealand coaching ranks.

Good advice from the corner can turn a fight in a round with expert opinion from outside the ring, turning deficiencies into attack and victory.

The fight of the night was the women's bout between the television presenter and the surfer girl.

Paige Hareb was shell shocked in the first round, however, after some hard talking and good advice from her corner, she gave it back to Hayley Holt in the remaining stanzas.

The looks of absolute exhaustion, but the sheer pleasure of getting through three rounds of boxing told the tale of the two women's new found respect for boxing.

All the other bouts, bar the main event, were relatively even affairs.

The digging deep in adversity was a feature of most of the fighters with some good scraps taking place.

So to the main event – it was between the Commonwealth cruiserweight champion and a former rugby league star and virtual novice boxer.

Sideline Sid will be charitable and say that it was an interesting encounter that rounded out a grand night of entertainment.

I just hope that all the talk of raising a large amount of money for charity was a reality and that all the money raised gets to its intended recipients.

Seeya at a the Game