BACK in the days when Matt Rose and Kylie Fulmer were at Kelso High School they shared a passion for sport, but the duo never would have imaged that they would one day be involved in one of Australia's biggest boxing events.
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Come August 26 at Townsville Stadium that's exactly what will happen.
Rose is now the CEO of No Limit Boxing, the company which is putting on the highly anticipated showdown between Tim Tszyu and Jeff Horn on that date.
As for Fulmer, who once played hockey for Souths, boxing is now her passion. Her efforts in the ring include winning the World Boxing Federation Women's Intercontinental Super Bantamweight world championship,
Rose has followed Fulmer's career, so when he heard she had returned to Australia after spending time in the United States, he was keen to help her get a fight on home soil.
This week it was officially announced that No Limit Boxing had locked in an Australian title bout for Fulmer against 'Shotgun' Shannon O'Connell. It will come on the same card as the Tszyu-Horn fight.
Rose is delighted the woman who was once a handful of grades behind him at Kelso High can be part of such a huge evening.
"She's on probably the biggest card that's been on in Australia in the last decade. It's a wonderful opportunity, she's never fought for the Australian title before," he said.
"We went to same high school, I've know Kylie for a long time so it's exciting to get her on to one of our cards finally.
"I'm a little older than her, she is more around my sister and brother's age, but we all went to Kelso High. So it's really cool being able to link up with her and give her that opportunity.
"I've actually talked to her for a couple of years, we've wanted to make a fight happen but it hasn't quite worked with her being in America or somewhere across the world fighting someone else.
"There's obviously limited opportunities to fight at the moment, but with her being back in Australia we were fortunate to be able to connect up again."
If Fulmer is to claim the vacant Australia Female Super Bantam Title, it would be a huge moment.
Not only would it mean adding to her unbeaten record, but it would mean she overcomes a more experienced and highly credentialed fighter.
O'Connell is rated by many as one of Australia's all-time best female boxers and she has won one of the coveted green WBC belts that Fulmer so badly wants.
"It's actually going to be a really tough fight for her, it's a genuine fight, it's a real 50-50 fight," Rose said.
"Credit to her for taking it and for taking it at short notice too."
The other bonus for Fulmer is that the event will be viewed not just by Australians, but across the globe.
"For her to do this on potentially the biggest card in the world this year - we could potentially have up to 16,000 people in Townsville. She's on the main event card so she'll get a terrific opportunity to put on a show," Rose said.
"This is going to be shown world-wide too, I've ESPN, I've got Match TV in Russia I've got Sky Sports in the UK, this fight is going out to the world."
