Vatuvei wants to outbox Buttabean
Manu Vatuvei is feeling the nerves, slightly more than any rugby league game, ahead of his professional boxing debut but the Warriors legend is ready to show just how serious he is about the sport.
Vatuvei squares off against Dave Letele, aka ‘The Brown Buttabean’, on the undercard of Joseph Parker’s heavyweight clash against Alexander Flores in Christchurch on Saturday.
It’s not the first time the former Kiwis and Tongan international, whose league career has been on hold since being released by English club Salford in June due to injury, has entered the ring.
The 32-year-old beat double Olympic rowing champion Eric Murray at Fight for Life in 2012. But up against Letele, who turned pro after an entertaining run on the corporate scene, with 19 fights behind him, Vatuvei is preparing for a big step up.
‘‘There’s definitely a lot of nerves but I’ve just got to trust in what I’ve been training for and all these weeks I’ve been suffering,’’ Vatuvei told Stuff.
‘‘It’s all about making sure I stay composed and stick to our game plan and trust that everything we’ve been training for will work.’’
Vatuvei has spent the last six weeks working with former Warrior and boxer Monty Betham as well as renowned trainer Lolo Heimuli.
He compared the training camp to a rugby league pre-season. But unlike the 13-man code, there are no teammates to lean on in boxing.
‘‘In league there are times where you can kind of hide and get your rest. But in this, the trainers are on you 24/7,’’ Vatuvei said. ‘‘They watch everything you do so you can’t take any shortcuts.
‘‘It kept pushing me to work harder and harder and get to where I want to be,’’ he said.
Renowned for his brute force on the league field, ‘The Beast’ is hoping for a knockout this weekend but his main concern is ensuring he looks ‘‘like a boxer, not a street fighter’’.
While Vatuvei has not closed the door on his league career, when the fight was announced last month he said he was considering a permanent move to boxing. If he is to go down that track, it is crucial Vatuvei puts on a show against Letele.
‘‘I just want to focus on this one first and make sure I do a good performance because everything will come off this.
‘‘If I have an ugly win it’s going to be hard to find new sponsors if I want to carry on.
‘‘So I just want to make sure I look smart, I look like an actual boxer and I look like I’m there to do something with it.’’
Asked about his approach to Saturday’s bout, which is scheduled for four three-minute rounds, Vatuvei said he wants to ‘‘out-box’’ Letele.
‘‘Dave’s been in a lot of battles throughout his career and he’s been relentless in everything he’s done. So I’ve got to stick to what I’ve got to do and not get frustrated.’’
Letele hung up the gloves in 2016 to focus on his fight against obesity with fitness motivation group, Butterbean Motivation. But he couldn’t resist the challenge of taking on the 29-test Kiwis wing.