BY day he’s a Turanga Health physical activity kaiāwhina but when Hotorene Brown steps into the ring this month the crowd will know him as Bad News Brown! Hotorene is taking part in the Fight for Life Education Trust 2016 annual charity boxing event that funds the Trust’s mobile classroom. Kayla Dalrymple, a previous challenger, finds out what drives Hotorene and how he thinks he’ll go. Family man Hotorene Brown has three boys with his partner Manu: Te Kehu 14, Nathaneal 12, and Jahn 10. He says the Life Education Trust is a cause close to his heart. The classroom services the length of the East Coast focusing on wellness, nutrition and healthy living, as well as teaching anti-bullying, anti-drugs and anti-alcohol messages. In some ways the Trust’s work shares similar values to Turanga Health and Hotorene says “it’s about the kids first and foremost, and then the journey of learning to box.” The journey is something all boxers who have been involved with the event experience differently. Taking part means an intensive three month training schedule, late nights learning complicated techniques, hours sparring in the ring, and often missing dinner with the family and putting the kids to bed. “It has been physically quite draining. You finish anywhere from 9 to 9.30pm and then you go home and have dinner by yourself with the adrenaline still racing through you, so you don’t sleep until 11pm or 12pm.” Hotorene says the boxers connect strongly with their team mates. “Most of us have families or partners and there are some experiences you just can’t talk about with them because you just can’t explain it. But you bond with your team because you are all on the journey together, going through the ups and downs and meltdowns, the whole thing.” Hoterene is part of the red team with Gisborne City Hit Pit. He will face off in the ring against Bevan Vendt from the Patu Tahi Boxing Club blue team. He’s not thinking too much about the bout. “I have not really over anaylsed the fight too much. As soon as you over analyse you get nervous and if you are nervous, you are no good to anyone.” Hotorene says the experience so far has turned him from a couch critic into someone with a high respect for the sport. “My perception of boxing has changed. It is a fine art with lots of detail. It is really cool when you start to understand the basic stuff. Learning is hard because you have to remember 20 to 30 different things all at once, processing everything from the position of your feet to your shoulders - I forget to breathe sometimes. It’s not just brutality, there is a science and finesse to it as well.” Fight for Life Ed 2016 is Friday 25 November at Gisborne Showgrounds. Tickets are available from Express PR.
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