Video: Nash stands by decision not to fight Mark Mitchell, but says he would have won
Police Minister Stuart Nash stands by his decision to not accept a challenge by National Party MP Mark Mitchell to a charity boxing match but says he would have beaten the daylights out of him.
Mitchell, National’s Police spokesman, challenged Nash to join him in the ring in a Fight for Life event to raise money for a mental health charity. Proceeds from the fight would have gone to Mike King's 'I Am Hope' charity supporting those affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.
But Nash says he has too much on at the moment as a Minister and as MP for Napier, where much of the cyclone devastation has happened.
“I think if the people of Napier saw me focusing on a boxing match as opposed to dealing with the issues that are immediate in front of them. And when I say Napier Electorate, which of course stretches way past Wairoa, they would go: 'Hass this guy really got our best interest at heart'.”
“I used to train at a boxing gym last century in Auckland, and I know what it takes to get fit, to get boxing fit. I'm not boxing fit. I haven't the time to get boxing fit. That aside, I'm 55 years old, I'm too old to be getting in a ring and beating the shit out of Mark Mitchell.”
Nash says it would also not be “a great look for the Minister of Police, again, to be beating the living daylights out of someone else”.
Asked if he was being confident by saying he would beat Mitchell, Nash said: “He's not the fittest guy to walk God's earth. I have no doubt that if we had got on a ring together then there would've been only one winner and it wouldn't have been him.”
The Minister reiterated that there were better ways for him to show his support for mental health.
“I am a hundred per cent supportive of the kaupapa behind this, which is mental health and wellbeing. I've spoken to Dean Lonergan (event organiser) and said that I am supportive of the cause, but at this point in time I just haven't got the time to do this.”
“Mitch and I are mates, let me say that. I mean he's blue and I'm red, but we are good mates. We did a Mike Hosking show together for three years. We played in the parliamentary rugby team together. So we are good friends. He's a little bit politically misaligned, but that's allowed. I've got to spend the next six, three, six, 12 months working really, really hard to sort out Hawke's Bay. But also I'm also the Minister of Police, the Minister of Forestry, the Minister of Fisheries, the Minister of Economic Development. I've got a whole lot of work to do at the moment and that is my number one focus.”
It has been reported that Nash’s nickname is the “Minister of Muscles” for his frequent use of the parliamentary gym.
The Fight for Life will be held in Auckland on 27 April this year.
