Punch-up for TV bad girl
Former Shortland Street bad girl Bree Peters made a lasting impression in her first weigh-in as she prepared for her boxing debut in the Super 8 event in Auckland.
When she stripped down and nervously waited for the event’s media manager Mike Angove to call out her weight in front of the packed house, Angove played along with some banter by saying: 97 kilograms.
Peters, giggling and smiling as she stood in her briefs in front of the crowd, couldn’t help but say ‘‘F...’’ loudly, which drew the loudest laugh of the pre-fight function.
‘‘I mean 67.6kg,’’ Angove said with a smile as Peters stepped down from the scales and gave him a push.
Peters, who took on the Bacholerette’s Lisa O’Loughlin in the Charity Feature Bout this week, was dreading the weighin more than stepping into the ring.
‘‘There are so many guys here,’’ the bubbly actress said afterwards.
‘‘When I first signed up, I was like ‘I would rather just do the fight than have to come and do the weigh-in’. I have watched a million weigh-ins with Ronda Rousey [current UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion] and she looks fierce and everyone is loving it and I am like: ‘That is not me at all’.’’
Peters, who drew the scorn of the public when her character Dr Pania Stevens committed murder and the fans failed to distinguish between the local drama and real life, is a former national rep in basketball and volleyball but had never considered taking up boxing before.
The daughter of NZ First leader Winston Peters said she could not wait to put all of her training to the test in front of a sold-out crowd.
She won the fight.
‘‘I have had amazing trainers with Chris Martin and strength and conditioning with ‘Hurricane’ Doyle. I have learnt heaps.
Peters fought for Kidscan while her opponent O’Loughlin laced up for the NZ Breast Cancer Foundation.
‘‘You are lucky if you can grow as a person and get a new skill, that sort of thing, but it is all about the charity,’’ said Peters.