Dylan Archer Ready To Make Major Statement In Fiji
Peach Boxing's Dylan Archer, steps into the ring this Saturday to face Fiji's Winston Hall for the PBC Oceania Super Welterweight title.
Dylan Archer may only be three fights into his pro career, but he has already earned himself the status as one of the most exciting new talents on the New Zealand scene.
Archer's hard-hitting, take-no-prisoners approach has made him a fan favourite at Auckland's ABA Stadium. However, on Saturday, November 4, the undefeated super welterweight will step into the cauldron that is Prince Charles Park in Nadi, Fiji, to take on local hero Winston Hall.
The two fighters will square off in front of an estimated crowd of 3,000 as they clash for the vacant PBC Oceania Super Welterweight title. It is a massive opportunity for Archer, who only turned pro in February of this year, and the Isaac Peach-trained boxer is aiming to make the most of this chance.
"It's exciting. I feel like it's the next step, and that's what I need. I need to stay busy. I just need to keep fighting," Archer says.
"Isaac is doing a good job of finding the fights, and we just keep taking them. First international fight, which is good, and first title on the line to fight for, and we're going to get it, and we'll just keep it moving up from here."
In Hill, Archer will face an Olympian and a Commonwealth Games bronze medalist. The 30-year-old is yet to experience a loss as a pro and will have a vocal home crowd on his side. However, Archer is only concerned about who he is stepping into the ring with rather than the crowd outside the ropes.
"I mean, if there's a lot of support on the other side, it doesn't matter. It just drives me even more to put this guy on his arse," he says.
"It's a pretty big [event], but I'm confident that I'm going to win. I feel good. We've been training really good. Isaac [and I] we put the hard work in.
Peach Boxing, which is home to the likes of IBO Super Bantamweight World Champion Mea Motu as well as world title contenders Andrei Mikhailovich and Jerome Pampellone, is gearing up for a busy few months with all its pro fighters set to compete before the year ends. It has added an edge to the already intense training sessions as everyone fine-tunes their skills.
"Everybody's mindset at the gym is to win their fights. Especially with all the other guys having big fights, title fights, world title fights as well as world title eliminators, it pushes everybody," Archer explains.
''It just keeps getting better and better. The focus and everything keeps getting more and more intense and serious as things go on for all of us. You know, as the fights are going on and as everyone is progressing, everything's just getting more intense, and the quality is moving up really fast."
This weekend's bout is the perfect way for Archer to end 2023 after he had to pull out of an event earlier in the year due to health concerns. Thankfully, no issues were found, and Archer received the all-clear to return to competition. The enforced leave of absence from the ring was a source of frustration but has helped fuel his passion for boxing.
"Now that I got all clear and I've been training hard, it's kind of boosted me throughout my training to just push even harder, you know? It's like, when you're trying to fight something, pulling you back, you kind of push more, so it feels good, " he says.
"I have probably been boxing for eight, nine years, and I've had some breaks, some big breaks. Yeah. But for me, it's like, why would I waste all that time to not have a good shot at it?
"I'm in the perfect place where I can have a good shot, and I've got the right team behind me, and we're making the perfect moves to have a good shot."