Lying on the canvas, sick, with the snot literally knocked out of him, Luke Slater had two options: stay down, or get up and fight.
He chose the latter.
Now, thanks to his champion mindset, the 43-year-old Shepparton boxer holds claim to the light welterweight state title in the masters division, beating Eltham-based fighter Michael Aspiradas in a Masters Boxing Victoria event at Ferntree Gully on April 1.
It was a victory rife with resolution, with Slater’s triumph made all the more sweet given the circumstances surrounding the lead-up to the bout.
He’d been training out of his local gym — Goulburn Valley Boxing Academy — under pugilist and owner Zedda Harrington, but explained last October’s floods greatly watered down his preparation for Aspiradas.
“We obviously got hit by the flood in the last year, so in the last third of last year I didn’t do a lot of training. In hindsight I probably felt it in the fight, a little underdone,” Slater said.
“We put in some work for a few weeks, but looking back, I reckon that three or four months when we were closed probably hurt me a little bit in terms of my preparation.
“If you know that you’ve prepared really well it definitely gives you peace of mind, if you haven’t it can play into your nerves.
“I felt quite sick on the day as well, so I was a bit concerned going into the fight which probably showed with what happened in the first round.”
Stymied by a bug which knocked him for six in the week prior to the Masters Mayhem event, Slater approached the fight knowing he’d have to rely partially on experience to get past Aspiradas.
But in an ironic twist, a left uppercut from his opponent in the opening exchange gave the jurist, Slater, a taste of something foreign: cold, hard canvas.
“I just didn’t see it — it wasn’t a huge punch — and I’ve been hit a lot harder than that in sparring and have never had that reaction,” he said.
“To be honest, I think the knock down sort of knocked a bit of desire into me.
“I thought ‘I’ve got to start doing this’, it was a bit of a wake-up call.
“No-one wants to get knocked down, but looking back it was kind of a good experience to have had to claw myself up from the canvas and come back to win — it was a good feeling.”
Given a minute’s recess by the referee, Slater went back to his corner after the blow knowing he’d lost the first round — and there was work to do.
The following rounds were night and day in comparison. He shook off the earlier punch, sparking him to eventually bring the strap back to the Goulburn Valley.
Coach Harrington spoke of Slater’s mettle, noting it takes something special to endure what he did at the fight venue, SEEC Arena.
“Most guys wouldn’t be able to go on, not just from the week that he had, but from a knock down,” Harrington said.
“Not only physically are you hurt, but mentally you’re a bit like in that panic mode, down on points and thinking ‘how am I going to recover?’.
“He won the following three rounds which allowed him to win a split decision and claim his third belt.
“He’s bringing a lot of belts back to the (Goulburn) Valley, we couldn’t be prouder of him — it’s a reflection of five years of hard work.”
Slater thanked Harrington and the Goulburn Valley Boxing Academy community for their continuous support during the past five years.
“Zedda and Helena’s (O’Halloran) commitment to this place is really what drives me to continue boxing competitively,” he said.
“Without Zedda I wouldn’t be doing it and I can see how much they’ve put in, particularly in the last six months with the floods.
“I feel like getting the success in the ring is definitely a reward for them as much as it is for myself.”