Rhythm is everything in boxing …
‘It’s refreshing, it’s daunting, it’s arousing’: A week in Sydney amateur boxing
On a Friday evening in December, two distinct queues are building up in one of Sydney’s wealthier suburbs.
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The first one snakes around Paddington RSL’s bistro where its mostly elderly patrons are getting ready for dinner surrounded by posters for the upcoming Last Train to Paris murder mystery evening.
The Paddo Punch On Actress, yogi and amateur boxer Kadee Hollis fights at The Paddo Punch On
‘The Paddo Punch On’ is the last night of amateur boxing in Sydney for 2023 and features a unique cast of characters in and out of the ring, each with their own unique story to tell.
Round One: Matchmaking
Promoter Astrid van der Sluys has been putting on fight nights for eight years, but she can never fully shake the nerves that follow her in the days before an event.
Van der Sluys is promoting another night of amateur boxing in Paddington RSL. The December 8 ‘Paddo Punch On’ includes 26 bouts, one of the many nights of boxing that she puts together throughout the year.
Leading up to the night, she is in constant communication with trainers across Sydney trying to find the perfect fights for her promotion. She will have to act variously as a skilled diplomat and detective to find boxers who are evenly matched not only in weight, but in skill, to ensure safe and competitive fights.
The fighters represent the diversity of Sydney. They are men and women with a range of weights, ages and backgrounds. There are boxers from the northern beaches, the north shore, the inner west and the far western suburbs of Sydney. Private school kids, battlers, tradies and engineers have all chosen to glove up in Paddington.
They all have different reasons for stepping between the ropes and facing an opponent under the hot lights in the rickety upstairs function room of the RSL.
“The night before the event there might be more nerves, anxiety and craziness,” van der Sluys says. “It’s almost like I’m handing in a massive assignment once the [fight card] has gone out, it’s something that I have worked tirelessly on for a month. It’s kind of like waiting to see what my grades are going to be, how well will the card stack up? And you’re also wondering will people come and buy tickets to watch it.”
In the world of boxing, van der Sluys stands out. Softly spoken and articulate, she was privately educated on the north shore and had a successful career in account management before taking part in a corporate boxing event as a challenge. She ended up going on to compete for national titles in amateur boxing. Van der Sluys put on her first fight night because she believed she could do a better job of organising one after her experiences as a fighter, where fight cards were often hastily compiled on scraps of paper.
“What makes me different is people trust me,” van der Sluys says. “They trust me to do the right thing by their fighters and they trust me to be completely ethical.
“I will never match a fight just to make money off it and if I see an opportunity where I can make money, but it’s not the right decision, then it’s the wrong decision.
“Mostly because I like to sleep at night and I’m one of those anxious types where if I feel like anyone feels like I’ve ripped them off or done the wrong thing by them, then that will keep me awake at night.”
Two of the fighters on van der Sluys’ Paddington fight night are Kadee Hollis, a 28-year-old actress and model who has had nine fights, and former Manly Sea Eagles NRL player David Williams, 37, who has had five fights.
Round Two: Preparation
Kadee Hollis, actress, yogi and fighter Three days before the fight, Hollis is the picture of calm in her local coffee shop in Alexandria near where she lives with her partner and trainer Luke Jackson, a former world title challenger and the 2012 Australian Olympic boxing captain.
When Hollis was a teenager in Canberra, she played soccer seriously and dreamed of making the Matildas, but after falling in with the wrong crowd at school after being badly bullied, she gave up the sport she loved at 17 years old. “I wish it had gone the other way and I had thought, ‘no, I’m not going to party any more’, but that’s what I chose,” Hollis says. “I think I was a bit bitter and frustrated with myself for a long time for not putting the work in because I know I could have been up there if I’d really wanted to.”
Hollis found solace in her work as an actress as an adult appearing in Home and Away and on stage, allowing her to perform and express herself fluently. She fell into boxing completely by chance. After meeting Jackson on an early morning run in Bronte, they started training on the pads as friends finding an easy rhythm, fell in love, became a couple and after a year and a half of training together, Hollis wanted to fight.
Jackson didn’t want her to step through the ropes, having competed extensively as a fighter himself, he understood the risks involved better than anyone. He bore the mental and physical scars from competing at the top level of his sport. Hollis convinced him that she was ready to compete through her ability in training.
“The main thing is that he is responsible for me, and it’s not like you play boxing,” Hollis says. “Yes it’s a sport, but it’s real. Let’s not pretend, it’s not tag. It’s like you try and hurt the other person, like that’s the aim of the game, it’s sadistic, but that is what the game is right?
“And it’s a big responsibility for me to ask Luke to take me through that journey. It would be different if he wasn’t my coach, and he was just my boyfriend and I was like, ‘I’m going get in the ring’, he’d probably be like, ‘OK, cool, I support you’, but because he’s the coach, I’m his responsibility. My parents are expecting that he takes care of me and so are my family and my friends.”
Hollis is warm and intelligent, and alongside her work as an actress and model, she works as a yoga teacher.
She battles misconceptions outside of the ropes, alongside taking on opponents in the ring. The joy she once had as a young soccer player, she has finally found again as a fighter in her late twenties.
“The amount of times people have said to me, ‘but what about your face?’” Hollis says. “I’ve had the same face for 28 years and guess what, I’m OK if it gets tarnished. You know, there’s more to me than my physical appearance. I’m not that vain that I’m not going to box because I might scratch my face. It’s frustrating because nobody is going to say the same thing to a man who is fighting.”
David ‘The Wolfman’ Williams, personal trainer and former NRL player
Williams trains for his fight at a boxing gym less than a kilometre from Brookvale Oval, where he played NRL professionally for seven years for the Manly Sea Eagles. David Williams training in early December ahead of his amateur bout at Paddington RSL.
At 37, Williams understands that his life has changed dramatically and he must fit his aspirations as a boxer around his day job as a personal trainer which generally starts at dawn.
His decision to box came as a result of frustrations with his rugby league career and a desire to compete in a sport where he has to take on all responsibility for his performance.
“I don’t think I had a great footy career,” Williams says. “I think I had an average one and it wasn’t even so much the results, it was how I performed personally. I mean straight up I played 50 per cent of the games I was potentially able to because of injuries and the body wasn’t right. This is something that is 100 per cent individualised. Everything relies on me and not my teammates. If I mess up, then it’s my fault.”
Having played rugby league since childhood, Williams now has to reprogram his body and mind to compete with opponents who are mostly younger than him and who have spent years honing their craft in the gym.
“League is front foot, boxing is back foot,” Williams says. “So it’s the complete polar opposite, like when you to go to things like turn your body to go and throw a punch and you’re too far in front and you get clipped in the head. It’s refreshing, it’s daunting and it’s arousing all at the same time.”
Round Three: Fight night Hollis
Every boxer is different before they step between the ropes. Some prefer silent contemplation, crowding the fears and anxiety out of their mind with relaxation. There will be enough commotion soon in the ring.
Others crave distraction. This night at Paddington RSL, one young fighter, with his fists already wrapped, has stopped to chat with work friends who have come to see him ahead of his bout. The conversation is so light and easy it’s easy to forget where he is.
There are two rooms set aside for fighters preparing for their bouts, one for the red corner and the other for the blue. Hollis smiles as she arrives in the ‘blue’ room and sits quietly by herself on the worn carpet, closing her eyes, and starts to slowly stretch out her legs and arms.
She will take on a talented opponent Holly Perdikaris at 60kg and understands the daunting task ahead of her. She eventually starts to warm up on the pads with Jackson and the crowded room briefly stops to watch as they dance almost symbiotically to a practiced rhythm. Her gloves find his pads with a loud snap with each punch.
At 9pm, it’s time to fight, Hollis puts on her gloves and Jackson whispers into her ear, “just enjoy yourself, that’s all you have to do”. Hollis smiles, nods and moves to the centre of the ring for her instructions from the referee.
Hollis also trained as a dancer, and she moves around the ring with balletic ease, finding frequent success with her right jab from her unorthodox stance. She starts brightly, her hands hanging low at times as she dances, but Perdikaris starts to find her way into the fight by the second round.
In the third round, the fight is too close to call, Hollis is technically gifted, but Perdikaris is relentless with her pressure and accuracy. The final bell sounds and most of the crowd believe Hollis has won in a close decision, but it’s Perdikaris who has her hand raised.
Hollis returns to the dressing room shattered. She is physically unhurt but bitterly disappointed in her performance. She cries as she hugs her aunt and her uncle who have travelled from Mosman to watch her compete.
Van der Sluys goes to check in on Hollis as she does with most of the fighters throughout the night. “I didn’t do enough, I have nobody else to blame,” Hollis says. “I should never have let it be that close.”
One year after starting boxing it is only Hollis’ second loss in nine fights. Perdikaris tentatively enters the dressing room and slowly sits beside Hollis who is unwrapping her hands with her head down while Jackson consoles her. The two women embrace and for the first time after the fight Hollis finally smiles.
Williams has been patiently watching the action from the dressing room for hours, rolling his limbs and using a massage gun to keep his body supple. By his own admission, he is a master at killing time after frequently waiting for late kickoffs as an NRL player.
He has been working as a personal trainer since 5am, and will face an aggressive Colombian opponent Cristian Alejandro Maplica Caledon in one of the last bouts of the night at 10.24pm.
Some fighters have brought a huge contingent of fans with them from school, university or work, but Williams is happy to be in his own company before the bell rings. He resists the urge to nap and slowly wraps his hands. Williams eventually walks to the ring, his coaches yelling “let’s go Wolfie”. He breathes in deeply, flicks a small jab in the corner and moves out slowly when the bell sounds.
It is clear early in the fight that Caledon is technically more gifted than Williams, but the former Manly player has superior strength and wrestles his opponent with ease in clinches. Williams is missing a lot of his shots, which can be wild, but when he finally connects with powerful hooks in the second round, he draws a steady stream of blood from Caledon’s nose.
The final round is a credit to Caledon’s durability as Williams smashes his face and body with punches, but the Colombian refuses to give up. Williams has his hand raised still smeared in his opponent’s blood, and dances across the ring in celebration before being enveloped by his coaches.
He is surrounded in the changing room by friends armed with celebratory beers and he listens as they relive their favourite moments of the fight for him.
David Williams has opponent Cristian Alejandro Maplica Caledon on the ropes. David Williams has opponent Cristian Alejandro Maplica Caledon on the ropes.CREDIT: BRENT LEWIN How does victory in a boxing ring in a small hall compare to his best nights in Brookvale?
“It’s the same in the sense that you work for something all the way through the week or however many off-season weeks, months, whatever, to get a moment where you should be putting in all that work to good use and that’s when the celebration comes and that’s where the satisfaction comes.
“There were parts in there that were good, and then there’s things I need to work on, because you always want to improve, that’s the game. It’s just onto the next one. I love it, I absolutely love it.”
The Final Bell
It is the last amateur boxing event in Sydney until this year. Van der Sluys, Williams and Hollis will all welcome the break from the incessant physical and mental grind of amateur boxing over Christmas.
Hollis and Jackson quietly leave Paddington for a long drive that night to see family in Canberra, the three and a half hours in the car will give them ample time to reflect on an incredible year.
Hollis is still making her first steps in the fight game and is determined to keep improving in her quest to reach the highest possible level of a sport she has fallen deeply in love with. A boxer wears a winners’ medal after his fight at ‘The Paddo Punch On’. A boxer wears a winners’ medal after his fight at ‘The Paddo Punch On’. CREDIT: BRENT LEWIN Williams and his friends leave the venue late in high spirits, he understands that he has a lot to learn in his new sport, but like Hollis, is determined to take it as far as he can. He does not know where the road in boxing will take him, but he is determined to enjoy the journey as long as he possibly can.
CODA: Boxing Saturday 13 May 2023 Anno Domini DY RSL Australia
“If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.”
~Muhammad Ali
It is said that boxing 🥊 is the toughest and loneliest sport in the world.
The biggest thrill wasn’t in winning on Saturday but raising money for worthwhile charity cause. To dance inside a ring is a bravery in itself