Canberra hard man Ben Dencio has had to shed almost 10kg to make weight for his TV boxing debut on Friday night, but there's one thing he'll never remove from his diet.
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"As long as the weight's coming down, chocolate can go in," Dencio said ahead of his bout with Gerry Zapantis.
"You've got to reward yourself."
Otherwise, it's been a strict regime for the 30-year-old ahead of his 11th professional fight at Exhibition Park, which he started training for almost 10 months ago.
Dencio retired from boxing after narrow back-to-back losses last year, but quickly realised it was only a temporary break he required.
During the COVID-19 shutdown he'd visit his parents' house every day and go and pound their boxing bag. When the opportunity to fight on Canberra's biggest ever boxing card presented itself, he jumped at the chance. And that meant curating his fighting weight all over again.
"Once I start eating smaller meals and eat at the right time, things sort of fall off," Dencio said.
"If you're training three months flat out and eating a lot less than you normally do and watching what you eat, it comes down pretty quick.
"I've never been a breakfast eater, I have a meal replacement and a coffee. That takes me to quarter past nine, I have some brown rice, chicken and a bit of flavouring in there, not much again.
"At lunchtime it's just another meal replacement. After training it's just dinner which is normally steak and sweet potato, mashed potato, it's very boring."
Boring but necessary if he wants to get below 59kg in time for Thursday's weigh in.
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"I honestly just eat when I can, my day starts at five o'clock and ends at about seven," Dencio said.
"If we're working til five, I just go straight from training to the gym ... go say hello to my parents, pick up the dog, eat, repeat."
His opponent Zapantis is a 33-year-old out of Marrickville, making his professional debut.
"I don't know anything about the bloke, he's making his debut, he's a little older than I am so I'm pretty confident I can win, as we all are," Dencio said.
"I've been training since probably mid February, I haven't stopped. I like training as much as I like fighting, in fact I probably like the training more. There's nerves kicking in but once you're in the ring and the bell goes, all that's forgotten and then you're fighting the other dude."
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
