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

The All Blacks have won the Rugby World Cup, the Melbourne Cup will be run this week and we can return some normality to our lives.

Oh what a glorious Sunday morning it was. Rising early with both hope and trepidation that the enemy from across the ditch could be dispatched, the early indications were that the ABs were in control.

At 21-3 the game appeared to be in the bag – however, you can never write off a wounded Aussie and they stormed back to get within four points.

New Zealand, as the Australian coach liked to call us, then weathered the storm and finished with a glorious kick and chase by Beauden Barrett to clinch a 34-17 victory and back-to-back Rugby World Cups were ours.

The icing on the cake would be a Kiwi-bred horse, trainer or jockey to win the Race That Stops Two Nations on Tuesday, and just when we thought the Trans Tasman rivalry was coming to a close, the Black Caps kick of a test series with the Australian cricket team in Brisbane on Thursday.

Closer to home, a Western Bay of Plenty professional boxer will be enjoying the biggest week of his career when he steps on to the world stage in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Gunnar 'The Stunna” Jackson is fighting on the undercard of one of the biggest match-ups in the World Capital of Boxing on the weekend.

Jackson has an appointment in the ring on Saturday November 7 (US time) at the Thomas Mack Centre in Las Vegas, with 2012 Olympic Middleweight champion Ryota Murata from Japan.

The London Olympic Gold Medal winner is being fast-tracked to fight for a World Professional title, with the bout against the Kiwi pugilist his eighth fight since turning to the professional ranks in August 2013.

Murata is scything through the ranks and is already number 14 from 1322 Middleweights worldwide. Some five of his seven victories have come by way of the short route.

The Tauranga boxer's fight is a prelude to one of the most anticipated professional fights in 2015.

Timothy Bradley (32-1-1) will square of with Brandon Rios (33-2-1), with the winner having the WBO Welterweight World Title belt strapped around his waist.

Also on the card is a WBO World Featherweight title fight, with the Murata verses Jackson contest over 10 rounds, immediately preceding the two world title contests.

Sideline Sid has had the privilege of a rare view of the Tauranga Boxing Club progress, since the Western Bay boxing gym kicked off in 2001, as a member of the club.

One of the first beating a path to becoming an aspiring pugilist was a then 15-year-old Gunnar Jackson. Head Coach Chris Walker has a lifetime of involvement in boxing and taking his charge ringside in Vegas will be the pinnacle (so far) of a decorated coaching career.

Coach Walker's boxer's roll of honour includes eight National titles, two Oceania crowns and three Commonwealth Games representatives.

Walker has taken Jackson to several regional professional titles along with fellow Tauranga pro Anthony Taylor winning the WBU title in August.

While 'our” boxer is up against it in Vegas at the weekend, against one of the up and coming stars of the professional fight game, he will represent New Zealand in the ring with genuine Kiwi pride.