Roar Fight Night 3 took place last night at the Lower Hutt Event Centre. Headlining the card were four separate New Zealand title bouts featuring some of the country’s best staking their claim amongst the elite. The show was promoted by the Lion Pit’s co-owner; Pou Sefesi.

In perhaps the most impressive performance of the night, boxer Shiva 'Showtime' Mishra stopped contender Ricky Curline in the first round to become the Pro-Box New Zealand 63.5kg Champion.

From the outset, it was Mishra who pressured Curline, unloading to the body and shifting his head off the centre line to avoid the counter. Curline was slinging with vicious intent but could not find the target, as Mishra’s defense remained impenetrable. Within the first minute, Mishra landed a clubbing left hook which saw Curline clinch up to recover against the ropes.

It appeared that Mishra had read the timing of his opponent early, unloading to the body to draw the guard before landing hooks and uppercuts upstairs. At around two minutes of the first round, Mishra landed a vicious 3-2 which saw Curline stagger backwards to the ropes.

Mishra followed up with a ferocious barrage of punches, his hand-speed and accuracy too much for Curline to deal with. Curline attempted to clinch up to buy himself some time, but Showtime unleashed another nasty 3-2 combo which crumpled Curline to the canvas unable to recover.

When asked about his dominant victory, Shiva stated:

“The fight went well. The plan had been to just pressure forward and keep Ricky on the back foot. I hadn’t thought it would come to an end so quickly. I would have liked a bit more ring time in front of my home crowd; however, the experience was electrifying and unforgettable.”

Mishra is all class, stating the following about his fallen opponent:

“I hope Ricky is okay. I thought the fight should have been called a bit earlier when he stopped defending himself.”

Perhaps this is true, as Curline did appear overmatched in there, eating several skull-rattling blows towards the end of the bout.

The title is Shiva Mishra’s second major professional boxing title, as he already holds the WBF Australasian Lightweight title after defeating Nestor Bolum in November 2019.

You can follow Shiva Mishra on his athlete Facebook page or on his Instagram page. He trains and fights out of the Lion Pit gym in Wellington.