In August of 1995, I spent 3 ½ months working in Townsville in northern Queensland and as it turned out, that working venture changed my life forever. While in Townsville a friend Cameron phoned me from Melbourne for information regarding a spot of bother that he had found himself in. In the conversation he asked me to train him for a fight when I got back to Melbourne. I said I would think about and get back to him when and if I ever did get back there.

I thought about it long and hard as I had a lot of spare to think, as I was doing security work as a bouncer and the lifestyle after a while became tedious and boring.

After my hand was broken in a fight while working, I had to take a long look at my life and what I was doing with it. It was then that I decided to quit work as a bouncer, go back to Melbourne train my friend and get my life back into order as well as help others.

My idea was to eventually lease a factory and train fighters and call it the Fighters Factory. With the idea being that we make champion boxers of the factory, hence the name. Boxing (In Australia) needed a big boost. Professional boxing was almost dead with the only professional fighters in Melbourne fighting interstate as there were next to none promotion in Victoria. Sot it was my intention to eventually start promoting fighters in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne once I had a strong stable of fighters, no matter how long it took me.

I also wanted to sell boxing gear and totally get boxing back in the spotlight. Whether or not it could be done, I didn't know, but I was going to have a crack at it. I returned to Melbourne halfway through December of 1995 and rung the same friend with the troubles, and told him that if he still wanted to learn how to box - now was the time.

A friend of mine named Brian was training a few boys in a garage in Croydon so my friend would ride his bike from Mitcham to Croydon and I started training him there. We had 2 bags hanging and a floor to ceiling and speed ball along with the wreck of a car that the garage housed. With no boxing ring and no room to skip except in the driveway, it wasn't the most glamorous of starts - but my friend was a tough and determined young man and he started developing good punches and really a pleasure to train. He listened and believed in me - most importantly appreciated my efforts.

The truth of the matter was that he was doing me just as big favour as I was doing for him as this was giving my life a direction, something it hadn't had since I was boxing competitively myself. So with my hand still in plaster we trained everyday. Shortly after, my girlfriend at the time started to train and then 2 other friends started as well. Then another friend started training and then one of his mates joined our growing crew. It was stinking hot in that garage, and it wasn't very comfortable but we all formed a bond and each of us wont forget the laughs that we shared in that grotty little garage.

With my crew of six along with Brian's boys, the garage was too crowded so I decided to move garages to my mother's garage in Kilsyth. There wasn't much more room there but we made do with the limited space and everyone was improving. After a while it was time for the next step and that was to lease a factory as more people wanted to train, but were unable to because of the limited space. It was also unfair to my mother who had to put up with all the noise and people turning up to train. I leased a factory and the official address was factory one, no 1/15 Macquarie place Boronia and we officially opened there on the 12th of March 1996. So my crew started training at the new gym and many more started as well. Some of the boys included Cameron reached the level to start competing.

Cameron ended up having 2 amateur bouts and he actually lost them both. But it was no disgrace as he was quite a tough boy, and a good fighter in his own right and he did the hard way as he had not much sparring and he was learning to fight the same way I was learning to train people. But boxing was good for Cameron as it taught him respect and it sorted his life out as a he was originally in trouble for being a scallywag - so it did give him direction.

Cameron gave boxing away and is living in Queensland where I catch up with him whenever I'm in town. I had a few other boys fight in the first year with a few wins and also a few losses.

On the 2nd August 1996 I ran my first promotion even though it was an amateur show, we still got a crowd of around 800 people. It was held at the Rowville Community Centre and it was a huge success. Especially when the boy I was training won by first round knock out. I ended up running a total of 4 amateur shows there and it was really just dipping my toes into the promotional business as it was my goal to run regular professional shows.

We started getting some good boxers winning quite regularly, namely Adam Killeen, Adam Leavers, A.J Owen to name a few. Like all boxing gyms, people who trained there came and went but the nucleus grew bigger and better and stronger.

In September of 1997 I decided to close down the gym at Macquarie Place, and move to an existing   weights and fitness gym in Nunawading where I leased an aerobics room. There our gym grew even more as it was much busier so we had more guys wishing to compete.

That year, 1997, I entered my first boxers into the Australian Amateur Titles, that year were being held in Glenelge, Adelaide S.A. The 3 boxers were A.J Owen, Lee Whelan and Sharon Couseland who had finally convinced me that I should let her fight. All 3 lost in good fights and did themselves proud.

When 1998 came around we were starting to get a strong stable of amateur boxers. Adam Killeen and Adam Leavers were still boxing and a new guy named Costa Chondros started fighting and he was bowling opponents all over the place.

It was there at Nunawading that we started running boxing circuit training which we still run today. The circuit training introduced a new type of people at the gym as before we only trained people to eventually fight. Now we had had training for people who didn't necessarily want to fight, but learn and use boxing as a way to get fit. People who would normally never go to a boxing gym got involved in boxing which was great. Two of the original guys who started training in the circuits Phil Hamling and Dave Flynn still strain with us today. The circuit was also great in the way that many guys did the circuit ended up boxing competitively.

In November 1998 I entered 2 boxers in the Australian amateur title which that year were being held in Southport in Queensland. Sharon Couseland and Costa Chondros were the 2 entered and it was a very successful trip as they both won gold which gave me my first National Amateur Champions.

In December of 1998 we changed addresses again, this time to the Blackburn address where we still are today. With each change the gym has gone from strength to strength and in June of 1999 it was time to stage my first professional fight night. Costa Chondros was ready to turn pro. So my first professional promotion was held at the Hungarian Community centre on the 25th July 1999. The Main Event was between Lincoln Stewart and Steven Marks for the Victorian lightweight title. There had been no professional boxing promotions for several years and the Main Event was a cracker between 2 local boys so it was a recipe for a great night and it turned out to be just that.

Our boxer Costa Chondros won his fight by third round knock out, and Lincoln Stewart beat Steven Marks in a fight that was so good, that it received 'fight of the year' - for 1999. The crowd was packed to the rafter and we had to turn people away and close the doors even before the first fight started at 8:00pm.

I have promoted 2 more shows in 1999 but changed venues to the Knox Netball Centre in Ferntree Gully. Over the years the popularity of the shows at the netball centre, or "Fort Knox" as it became nicknamed, has grown and grown. By the end of 2005 "Fighters Factory" had promoted 31 promotions, 7 which were shown live by "Fox Sports" and 4 have aired on "Sky". By this time "Fighters Factory" had promoted over a dozen Australian Title fights and 11 State title fights.

Over the years we have progressed many boxers careers and kept boxers competing in a sport that they have chosen to pursue.   The shows at "Fort Knox" have developed at "cult" like following with people turning up regardless of who is fighting because they know that they are guaranteed a great night of highly skilled and competitive boxing.

Besides progressing the careers of boxers with out promotions, I am proud to say that we have helped many people with just coming into our gym. The great thing about the "Fighters Factory" is that you don't have to be a fighter to train there, you get a workout and a new found respect for the sport and the people who compete in it.

In 1998 we ran four circuits per week and we now have 28.

It is very pleasing to see people of all ages, gender, shapes and sizes training hard and sweating it out in our gym. A very important aspect of out gym for us is that you are able to amongst friends who share a good laugh together as opposed to other gyms that are full of the ego maniacs. Over the years many of the same people train with us and it has made for a great atmosphere and a pleasure to go to everyday.