Donnie Bailey and Malachii Schofield are on the verge of experiencing something every fighter has gone through – from those whose names will be hailed for eternity to pub brawlers flat out remembering their own name.
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Bailey, 32, and Schofield, 26, will make their ring debuts at the Fight to Redemption event in Port Macquarie on Saturday night. A monumental occasion for any fighter, they are facing it with a palpable excitement that widened their eyes as they discussed what awaits them.
And for Bailey, add a touch of cockiness that elicited a chuckle from his co-trainers, father and son team Clint and Scott Chaffey, of Tamworth institution Chaffey’s Black Black Belt Academy.
When asked what he knew about his opponent, Bailey said nonchalantly: “I know nothing about him. I’ll worry about him when he’s in front of me.”
“I love it,” Scott Chaffey said.
Rewind the clock to just over a year ago, and Bailey walked into the Academy so green he could not make a proper fist. His debut fight is "just something I want to tick off”. “I feel really good, I’m excited,” the 73 kilogram fighter said. “I’ve got the best trainers and the best group of people around me.”
Schofield has been training at the Academy for “a few years” and, like Bailey, he wants to see what he is made of in the ring. “I just thought it would be interesting to jump in and put my skills to the test,” he said.
They will be joined in Port Macquarie by another Academy fighter, Guyra high school student Tori Brazier, a 65kg scrapper eyeing her third win in as many fights.
