Hami Smith was the toast of the Paroa Sports Club on Saturday evening after his impressive showing at the second Battle of the Clubs, held at Trust Arena in Tauranga.

The best of the 11 fights, as voted by fans, earned the club $10,000 and that honour went to Smith for his win against Jake Mckean of Mount Maunganui.

Battle of the Clubs is a boxing event that sees rugby players from across the Bay of Plenty swap their boots for gloves and test themselves in the ring.

“I felt a huge sense of pride to represent my club and come away with the $10,000,” Smith said. “It was the best experience and the best crew to do it with.

“Our coach Carl Cowley prepared us perfectly and that's due to his knowledge and experience in the fight game.

“Big thanks to last year’s champ, Sitiveni Kutalele, for making this year’s experience what it was and being corner men for the EBOP.”

Smith said he benefitted from a pre-event fight organised by Cowley. “Carl found me a fight one month out from the BOTC event. It helped me to take lots of learnings and apply it to my BOTC fight.”

Smith said he would love to step back in the ring. “It was an awesome event, from the set up to the production to the atmosphere, a once-in-a-lifetime event that I'll cherish forever.

“Shout out to Carlos Price and Micheal Beacall for the mahi they did to make BOTC the experience that it was.”

One Three Eight Promotions and Battle of the Clubs promoter Price was happy with the event.

“We were pretty blessed with some amazing flights throughout the night; our coaches did an exceptional job to keep all the fights so even.

“Jake and Hami were personally my fight of the night.

“You could see they had nothing left in the tank at the end and it could have gone either way, which is exactly what this event is all about.

“It was amazing to see grassroots club culture in full swing, and we can’t wait to keep growing this promotion and expand it throughout New Zealand.”

In the opening match of the night Matatā’s Koby Savage scored a victory over Marist St Michael’s Shaun Waikato.

Fight two saw Waimana’s Dan Biddle-Hunuhunu victorious against Waikite’s Grayson Pullen-Murray, with the third fight of the night going the way of Nana Tahuriorangi over Poroporo’s Jade Marshall. Fight four saw Katikati’s Logan Ward defeat Tāneatua’s Tomm Mason.

Rangataua’s Timoti Gardner overcame Te Puke’s Scott Tamihana, while the next fight went the way of Ōpōtiki’s Helena Coughlan over Te Teko’s Piurangi Holt. Murupara’s Shannon Anaru won with a unanimous decision over Haamiora Joseph.

Smith was the next fighter to be victorious with Edgecumbe’s Zaane Walker defeating Tabai McGregor.

Eastern Districts Sky Nikora defeated Chelsea Hepi while Asher Weatherley defeated Waha Mika.