Boxing comeback following accident
A freak accident at work that left Zane McNab urinating blood hasn’t slowed down his latest comeback in boxing.
The Hamilton fighter felt lucky to only suffer a severely bruised kidney after a heavy piece of steel fell on his back just weeks out from facing Darcy Boland of Australia in their welterweight bout in Melbourne.
The falling steel was close to hitting his spine or his neck.
‘‘It hurt. I got the cold sweats straight away, the nausea and the shakes,’’ McNab said.
‘‘I went straight to the doctors and got seen to straight away.’’
Luckily for McNab, the flat end of steel - not any prongs or edges - hit his kidney.
The 37-year-old is back training towards his second professional fight following the scare that happened about a month ago, after returning to the ring last September following a 17-year absence due to work and family commitments.
It’s not even the worst injury he’s suffered while working as a concrete labourer in Te Rapa.
A wet concrete pipe has fallen on him before.
‘‘You’re working with tonnes and tonnes of concrete,’’ he said.
‘‘I pour 36 cubes of tar concrete a day and that’s just me and my crew making railway sleepers.’’
McNab, who’s nicknamed ‘The Unspeakable One’, is on track to fight Boland in Melbourne on June 17 before facing Skope Siaosi on the undercard of Lance Bryant and Junior Pati’s New Zealand cruiserweight title fight in Auckland on July 8.
His one fight last year against Nick Hikorua signalled his return to boxing after quitting the amateur ranks in 1999.
McNab won NZ titles and Golden Gloves as an amateur in the nineties but his professional debut was cut short due to cracked ribs following a painful blow from Hikorua in the second round.
‘‘When I got in there I felt okay but when I got hit, it felt like my lung had collapsed and I had to stop right there,’’ he said.
McNab took three months off boxing to allow his ribs to heal properly but he’s back in shape and training in New Lynn, Auckland with John Conway, a former boxer, kickboxer and boxing referee who’s officiated fights with the likes of Shane Cameron, Jeff Horn and Joseph Parker.