PETER Natoli says you are never too old or too late to chase your dreams.
And he's going to great lengths to prove it.
The 44-year-old former group fitness centre owner is preparing to step into the boxing ring for a tilt at the Australian Masters Boxing Titles on the Gold Coast in July.
Natoli is no seasoned veteran, or ageing contender. But neither is he a washed-up fighter trying to relive past glories
Despite entering a boxing gym for the first time as a 14-year-old in the northern Melbourne suburb of Preston, he has just two fights under his belt.
The first of those came back in 2007, when he won a silver medal at the World Police and Fire Games in Adelaide.
It took until last month in Alice Springs at the pertinently names Red Desert Dust Up II event to chalk up fight number two.
Matched against Theo Karaminidis, an opponent with 19 career fights, Natoli not only held his own but nearly effected an upset.
While two of the three judges' scorecards indicated a loss for Natoli and the other had him winning, it was still a triumph in many ways for the Bendigo father of two.
"It was never about winning or losing for me," he said.
"It's about the journey you go through getting there.
"For me, getting a trophy was good and getting away to Alice Springs was good, but the compliments I got from my opponent and his trainer after I fought stay with you.
"After the fight they both came up to me and said, 'mate, we thought we were fighting a novice guy, we didn't expect what you gave out.
"It was a really good fight."
As to be expected with any combat sport, there was plenty of gamesmanship from the opposing corner in Alice Springs, and even some from his own.
It was never about winning or losing for me. It's about the journey you go through getting there.
- Peter Natoli
"Right before I was ready to walk out to the ring, my trainer said to me 'they know you are a novice and they are here to fight'," Natoli explained.
"They started playing my entrance music and he tells me that!
"When he said it I was like 'why did he tell me that now?' But I'm glad he did - it put me in the zone, which is hard to explain.
"There was more than a thousand people at this venue but I can't remember seeing any of them.
"Even the fight, the whole six minutes is a blur, but not becuase I was getting hit.
"You are just so focused."
Natoli has dabbled in boxing "off and on" for more than 20 years.
But it was the decision to sell his fitness business - Bendigo East-based Punches in Bunches - that eventually led him back to the California Gully gym of respected boxing trainers Pat and Gary Connolly.
Overweight, nursing a crook back and suddenly with plenty of spare time on his hands, Natoli, in January, set about getting back into shape.
The transformation has been remarkable.
Through a regular regime of about six training sessions a week, Natoli has shed nearly 20 kilograms from his former 109kg frame and his own words: "I've started eating right and sleeping right".
"I've completely changed my life around," Natoli said.
"For eight years, even though I was running a fitness gym, I never concentrated on myself - it's always been about other people.
"Getting back here (to the boxing gym), while I was selling the business, just opened my eyes to life."
The Connolly gym has operated at Vinton Street for roughly 30 years, in that time churning out Olympians, Commonwealth Games representatives and multiple state, national, Oceania and even international champions.
But not everyone who walks through the doors is there to win titles, or necessarily has a desire to pursue boxing as a sport.
Then there are those like Natoli, who surface every so often with a view to improving their fitness and have the desire to act out their urge to get in the ring.
Natoli conceded some regret in not pursuing boxing in his teens, or even 20s and early 30s, but is stoked to be now grabbing his chance.
He's become an advocate for Masters boxing, which allows competitors aged 41-65 to participate in a suitable environment that is safe and fun.
"That's what is good about sport, because of things like Masters, there are people who don't have their first fight until they're 40," he said.
"There's a lot of guys like me out there who have done some training and are thinking 'I wish I had have had a fight'.
"Now they have that opportunity. Any man or any woman can now take up boxing and you don't have to be young to do it.
"There's no difference in the rules to amateur boxing, except we use 12 ounce gloves, not eights - and they are three two-minute rounds."
Gary Connolly can't recall Natoli missing many sessions at all since he returned to the gym.
He calls him a "great role model" for those aspiring to regain their fitness and health.
Natoli will next step into the ring on June 11 for an exhibition bout on a huge Battle on the Goldfields II card at Bendigo Stadium, promoted by local former Olympian and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Lynden Hosking.
The advocate for Masters boxing said stepping out in front of his home crowd shaped as a a "little daunting".
"But I'm excited at the same time. I have a lot of friends coming, family members," he said.
"It's daunting and nervy - you have all these emotions rushing through your body, but they are emotions you just have to deal with.
"As soon as you get in there, from the first bell to the last, it's only six minutes of your life."
Away from the gym, Natoli says he likes spending time with his wife Lisa, two children Alex, 21, and Blake, 20, and riding his Harley Davidson.
In arguably the best shape in 10 years or more, Natoli said there was no desire to slip into old ways.
"A big thing in my life now is that after I achieve something, I don't want to fall back to the person I was," he said.
"When I had that fight in Adelaide in 2007, I straight away put on 16 kgs.
"With these fights in Bendigo and the Gold Coast I am training my brain and mind to a place I've never been before."
