It's amazing what some will do for a shot at a world title.
Kiwi boxer Lani Daniels has immersed herself in training before fighting for the IBF Heavyweight belt later this month against Auckland-born Samoan Alrie Meleisea in the City of Sails.
In fact, Daniels has been so dedicated to her fight that she’s been literally living at the gym to push her body to tough places but thankfully it's all been a little easier with the right people around her.
Specifically, Daniels and her trainer John Conway share a dream.
“I was going to be a world champ,” Daniels said.
They've tried before in 2019 with Daniels losing a world title fight to Brazilian-born Kiwi Geovana Peres via unanimous decision but the 34-year-old said this time is different.
“I was a part-time boxer then, now I'm full-time,” she told 1News.
“I've been here since January – last time I would come down Thursday to Sunday and then go home but my choices I was making when I would go home weren’t choices a world champ would.
“Whereas this time round, I haven't missed a beat. You can pretty much say the last 12 weeks, I've been pretty strict and not missed a day.”
The Northlander is living – and sleeping – alongside her coach's dusty boxing regalia in the gym.
The surroundings are minimal, but that’s what this fighter needs.
“There's only a couple of choices. You train, you eat and you sleep. There's no fourth choice,” Conway said.
While Daniels' vision may not have included sleeping on a couch in the back of a gym initially, she agrees with her coach that it’s helping her chase her dream.
“If you're wanting to fight seriously you can't beat it,” she said.
“It's much easier to roll off the couch than a nice, cosy, soft bed with nice clean smelling sheets!”
Conway said it's all part of his old school method.
“She has to do what I say, she has to be around and she has to be not really comfortable because doing a 10-round fight, any title fight, it’s unpleasant and uncomfortable and to win you’ve got to go through those challenges during the camp so if she's in a soft bed she's going to be soft but if she's on the couch, she's going to be hard.”
But Daniels has a soft spot for the man who's pounding her into shape.
“He's like my dad – I put him up there with my dad.”
Family in general is an emotional topic for Daniels.
“My family have always seen stuff in me that I've got or could do better and they've always told me and I've always self-doubted,” she said holding back tears.
“I feel like your family have to tell you that regardless of whether you're good or not, they aways give you props but having someone who I just randomly had the opportunity to meet and have that same aroha and stuff for me and take me under his wing and look after me is massive.
“He's my landlord. He's my chef. He's my alarm clock, my dietitian, he's been my whiteboard, my therapist. Like, everything.
“We've been on this whole journey together. It's all meant to be and this world title is just as much his as mine. I would not have been here without him.”
For Conway, it’s about seeing one of his own shine.
“I saw that there's a true champion in there, just like somebody who sees a diamond in a rock,” he said.
“You just get rid of the rock.”
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