61 Monty Betham - Works as boxing instructor at Boxing Alley.
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UPDATE 04/11/15
Boxing: Former league star wins cruiserweight title at the Super 8 Fight Night
5:17 AM Wednesday Nov 4, 2015
Monty Betham. Photo / Getty Images
Former Kiwis and Warriors forward Monty Betham claimed the New Zealand NZNBF cruiserweight title with a unanimous decision victory over James Langton at the Super 8 Fight Night at SkyCity in Auckland tonight.
The 10 round bout went the distance and was closely contested but Betham proved more energetic and accurate against the steady and straight-shooting Langton.
"I can smile. I know it was ugly but I'm just so dammed proud," Betham said.
"Dad, I hope you're happy because this was for three generations of Bethams."
The main event saw New South Wales and Cronulla Sharks NRL captain Paul Gallen extend his professional fight record to four wins after beating Warriors back-rower Bodene Thompson in the celebrity feature bout.
Both fighters supreme conditioning saw them last the full four rounds, with Gallen resembling an immovable object while Thompson continually tested him with a range of powerful shots and evasive footwork.
"I knew it was going to be tough," Gallen said.
"We were never going to knock each other out, he was hard to hit and he kept coming."
In the heavyweight title fight, Auckland's Hemi Ahio made short work of All-Samoan champion Alipati A'asa, dispatching him in two rounds with a brutal display of power hitting.
The underrated A'asa looked to be headed for an upset victory after a strong start, but Ahio's heavy hands soon took their toll. He knocked his rival down twice in the second round with a pair of left and rights to take the win.
Earlier, reigning Super 8 cruiserweight king Israel Adesanya retained his crown after easing past Zane Hopman in the knockout tournament semi-final, before claiming his second unanimous decision victory of the night in the final over the hard-hitting Lance Bryant.
Adesanya's effort was all the more remarkable for the fact he was backing up just three days after winning the trans-Tasman King in the Ring, in which he won past three opponents.
The light heavyweight knockout tournament final, between recent world title challenger and NZPBA champion Robert Berridge and New Zealand NZPBF titleholder Reece Papuni, was a ruggedly fought crowd pleaser.
Both fighters arrived after surviving their respective semifinal bouts, which were both forced into a fourth deciding round, with Papuni seeing off Bradley Riddel and Berridge accounting for Sosefo Falekaono.
The super-fast Papuni looked the more dynamic and powerful but Berridge was tough enough to take it to three rounds before the pair engaged in a fourth, with Papuni eventually declared the victor by split decision.
In between the two knockout tournament finals, former Shortland Street star Bree Peters take a unanimous decision victory over Bachelor NZ contestant Lisa O'Loughlin.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/article.cfm?c_id=79&objectid=11539552
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Still involved with Boxing Alley.
https://boxingalley.net/
Came out of retirement to fight Carlos Spencer in December 2014 for the Fight for Life charity boxing event.
Boxing: Betham stops Spencer with TKO
10:43 PM Saturday Dec 6, 2014
Monty Betham fights Carlos Spencer during the Fight for Life at Claudelands Event Centre in Hamilton. Photo / Getty Images
Monty Betham proved he has lost little of his skill as a boxer when stopping former All Black Carlos Spencer with a third-round TKO in a Fight for Life bout at the Claudelands Arena last night.
Spencer, fighting in his first, and according to him afterwards, last, professional bout, was extremely cautious in the first two rounds, and it was clear why following a withering burst by Betham which referee Lance Revill stopped 35 seconds into the third and penultimate round.
It began with Spencer's first sustained attack of the night, but Betham, a former Kiwi and Warriors league player with six professional fights behind him, hit his opponent with a straight right hand and quickly turned him around into a corner with a unrelenting barrage that Revill was right to stop. Spencer complained, but soon got over his disappointment.
Betham said afterwards: "He's a brave man. He got a bad rap as the boy from the Toffee Pops ad but he is as tough as they come."
Fighting at cruiserweight, Spencer, the coach of the Eastern Province Kings in South Africa, was an extremely trim 84kg to Betham's 88kg, the result of the conditioning for the scheduled four three-minute rounds.
His game plan was clearly to cautiously work his way into the fight, but Betham, who lost by decision to Shane Cameron in his last fight, was far too classy.
Spencer said: "It was as tough as I thought it was going to be, probably tougher. He showed his true class tonight.
"It took a long time to think about this challenge because Monty is a good mate and great boxer. It was a one-off."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11370144
Not sure whether he is still with them but Monty signed up in February 2014 to be a co-host of the Radio Sport Breakfast of Champions, 6-10am weekdays alongside Ian “Smithy” Smith and Nathan Rarere.
https://www.mediaworks.co.nz/MONTY-...AMPIONS/tabid/135/articleID/2021/Default.aspx
Monty is also a co-founder and ambassador for the Steps For Life charity. Steps for life was developed to take a proactive approach to reducing the rate of obesity and works with overweight high school age youth and their families. It is a 12 week programme that provides the knowledge and tools required to make significant changes towards living a sustainable healthy lifestyle which eliminates the many risks associated with being obese. They have an upcoming boxing event this May...
https://www.stepsforlife.co.nz/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Monty-Betham-Steps-for-Life-Foundation/109943855740982