Two young 16 year old Māori have been training at Strike Force Gym for six years and are competing in the IFMA Muay Thai World Championships to be held in its home land, Thailand.
Ben Spears of Ngāti Porou is a two time WMC NZ champion and is now ready to take it to the World stage.
He says "It's been good, it's been harder the closer we get, the levels of intensity are getting higher."
Ben Spears and sparring partner Jordan Kaipo-Unuwai are preparing for the IFMA Thai Boxing World Championships.
"It's world championships so it's gonna be hard yeah but I'm excited too, just go and have a good time," says Kaipo-Unuwai.
Competing at an international level wasn't on Ben's mind when he first laced up his gloves.
"I used to play football and that was a winter sport and we got bored during the summer so we just decided to try this out," Spears adds.
Despite being kicked and punched in the head, that's not the worst part of their training, but they keep coming back.
On Saturday the boys will fly out to Thailand to test how good their skills are against the best fighters in the world.