Photo: Photosport / John Cowpland
New Zealand boxer David Nyika's relishing the chance to resume his professional career when he steps into the ring on Sunday morning, on the undercard of the Joseph Parker - Dereck Chisora fight.
The cruiserweight bout against Frenchman Anthony Carpin is scheduled for 7am, and is Nyika's second pro fight.
He won his first by TKO, just 28 seconds into the first round against Aucklander Jesse Maio in February.
Since then, Nyika won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, which capped a successful 11-year amateur career, in which he also won gold medals at both the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
And while proud of his amateur career, he's in a different ball game now.
"In amateur boxing, you don't win a fight by hurting the other guy," he said.
"You won a fight by outpointing them, outscoring them, hitting them with more effective blows than he hits you with.
"But in professional boxing it's a game of who hurts the other guy the most, and that's exciting."
"This is what my whole career's led to and I relish the opportunity to get in front of a big crowd and do my country proud," he said.
Nyika's prepartion for Sunday morning has included training alongside Parker, who he describes as being like an older brother.
He's also been in the ring with Tyson Fury, the two time heavyweight champion of the world.
"We did 15 rounds of body sparring and the entire time he was yelling at me calling me a fairy," he said.
"I was hitting him as hard as I could, and honestly, I absolutely had no effect, it was pretty bizarre, and I'm no slouch!
"He's a very, very hard man," he said.
Nyika's opponent, Carpin, is 31-years-old and has a 5 win 6 loss record, and the Kiwi says while he looks "straight up", he feels he's ready for anything.
"I'm going in with a hundred percent confidence," Nyika said.
"I don't want people to waste their money, or waste their time.
"Sundays are for relaxing so if people are getting up at seven in the morning to watch me, I'm going to put on a good show."
- RNZ
