Last December Pablo and I made a new trophy we named the “Show up and Shut up” prize. We gave this to Panashe as for a year he came to class said very little and just trained and trained. I knew that his aim was to compete but he didn’t push at all, he just did the work. So this year we got registered and although it took till May to get his first fight but then he has done 4 fights in a month including two in the same weekend as well as doing a fight and then getting up 6am to go sparring with professionals. All fights have been close but Panashe has the best attitude clocking up experience and showing exemplary sportsmanship win or lose. This weekend we go to Cessnock for an exhibition fight then next weekend to Woollongong for a competition fight. We will have two more fights plus as many exhibitions as we can get before September Novice titles where Panashe will compete at the top of B division 4-7 fights and then we will get to at least 10 fights under his belt by the end of the year. At 10 fights and above the world changes it doesn’t matter how many wins or losses you have had till then you start competing with the elites and doors start opening. We have had only one fighter who started from scratch here and got past 20 fights but I’m pretty sure Panashe has what it takes to go far in the sport.
