Sport
8 March, 2022
Fighting for charity
MAREEBA Muay Thai fighters put on their gloves and jumped into the ring over the weekend in the name of charity as they fought in the Cairns Charity Fight Night.
Hosted on Saturday night, the charity fight brought together fighters from across the region and all different skill levels for a bit of fun, all while raising money for charity.
Head trainer and owner of Black Dog Muay Thai, Daniel Grant, and three of his fighters strapped up and stepped through the ropes as they fought their opponents.
Michael Quintieri, Rhys Cooper, Lachlan McWaters and Grant himself all nominated a charity close to their hearts– Dean McDonald was also scheduled to fight but due to injury he was forced to pull out.
Grant said he chose to fight to raise awareness of a disorder that someone he knows is suffering from, Cystic Fibrosis.
Cystic Fibrosis an inherited disorder that causes severe damage to the lungs, digestive system and other organs.
“I know someone who has a child that is affected by Cystic Fibrosis,” he said.
“My reason for choosing it was not simply because I personally know someone and that the other charities aren’t as important – there just isn’t as much support there for Cystic Fibrosis.
“All charities are great charities, unfortunately I could only choose one – I wish I could choose them all.”
Despite not being able to step into the ring, Dean McDonald was set to raise money for a cause terribly close to him, liver cancer, however he still wanted to raise awareness about the disease.
McWaters chose to raise support for the Black Dog Institute in support of men’s mental health, an issue, he says, affects everyone at one point in their life.
“It’s a cause that hits close to home, everyone suffers from a mental health stigma so it is something I was happy to fight for,” McWaters said.
Like McWaters, Quintieri put on the gloves to bring awareness to men’s mental health, specifically the stigma surrounding the issue and men’s reluctance to speak out and seek help.
“Men need to understand that it is ok to speak up and talk about your problems, don’t bottle them up,” he said.
To this end, Quintieri decided to support Men’s Shed and namely the Mareeba Men’s Shed which has an active role in helping men open up and speak about issues they may be facing.
