Brock Jarvis couldn't train for eight days.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The unbeaten featherweight contender was a fortnight out from the fight he hopes will punch his ticket to a world title shot, but pad work and sparring under the eye of Jeff Fenech? Forget it.
The illness was so debilitating it kept Jarvis from travelling south for the media launch of his bout with a New Zealand counterpart looking to derail his title dream.
But today he's here, and with an illness knocked out, Nort Beauchamp [18-3] is all that stands in Jarvis' [18-0] way at EPIC's Coorong Pavilion on Friday night.
A win looks set to propel Jarvis to a world title shot with talks underway to lure a champion to Sydney's Hordern Pavilion to mark a stirring moment for Jarvis and his trainer Fenech.
MORE BOXING
Top Rank boxing promoter Bob Arum wants Jarvis to take on the winner of April 24's WBO championship bout between Emanuel Navarrete and Christopher Diaz.
Las Vegas-based Arum is keen for the bout to happen in Australia with Lonergan setting his sights on the Hordern Pavilion, the site of four of Fenech's career victories.
"If Brocky can have a win, I've been talking to Bob Arum for the past week and a half about Brock fighting the winner of Emanuel Navarrete and Christopher Diaz," Lonergan said.
"If Brock was to win, we'd get the winner of that fight down here, depending on quarantine conditions, for October this year. Bob and myself have had discussions on it.
"This is a massive fight for Brocky. Last week he was crook and he couldn't train for about eight days.
"I think Brock Jarvis has the potential to be an absolute superstar. He is incredibly good looking, his work ethic is absolutely incredible, and he is exciting to watch because he throws big punches.
"Jeff Fenech in particular has got enormous confidence in Brock's ability. When we raised the Navarrete fight, there was no hesitation, he said 'let's get it done'."
But that bout only comes to fruition if Jarvis can get through Beauchamp, and "that's a big if".
The New Zealand featherweight has never been stopped. He is an awkward customer at the best of times and an incredibly durable contender.
But you've got to be when you're training at Auckland's City Kickboxing gym with UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, and the mixed martial arts promotion's featherweight king Alex Volkanovski.
"Mindset is everything. I'm in a gym full of animals. Israel Adesanya, Kai Kara-France, Alex Volkanovski. They all lift my mentality," Beauchamp said.
"We all feed off each other. We've only got one goal. We don't have small goals. The big goal is gold.
"I know what I can do, and that's win fights. For the fourth time in Australia, I'm going to shock everyone, beat a champion, and bring these belts back to New Zealand."
To do so he needs to withstand the constant pressure nobody else has before. Sixteen of Jarvis' 18 bouts have ended via stoppage.
His last outing in Canberra gave onlookers a brutal clinic of lethal body punching which established him as one of the best in the nation, putting Mark Schleibs away in emphatic fashion.
Durable, they say of Beauchamp? He'll need every bit of it against a rising star with a man he proclaims the best trainer in the game guiding him every step of the way.
"Brock likes to fight in close on guys' chests and he is just relentless. He just wears his opponents down with constant pressure," Lonergan said.
"You'd hate to be in the ring with him because there is just no place to hide. Boxing at the best of times, there is nowhere to hide full stop, whereas on a rugby league or a rugby union field, you can always bludge on the blind.
"In this game, there is nowhere to hide and Brock brings more pressure than anybody I've ever seen as a fighter."
NATIONAL BOXING SERIES
Friday, April 23: National Boxing Series Volume Seven - Brock Jarvis v Nort Beauchamp at EPIC's Coorong Pavilion, 6pm.
Fight card:
IBF Pan Pacific and WBO Global featherweight titles: Brock Jarvis [18-0] v Nort Beauchamp [18-3]
WBO Oriental, IBF Australasian, ANBF Australian middleweight titles: Issac Hardman [8-0] v Mark Lucas [10-2]
ANBF Australian super featherweight title: Ben Dencio [8-3] v TC Priestley [3-4]
Heavyweight: Arsene Fosso [3-1] v Jamie Porter [10-6]
Super welterweight: Abe Archibald [5-0-1] v Michael Hall [7-1]
Welterweight: Jorge Kapeen [2-1] v Ryan Cotten [5-6-2]