Cameron O’Connell is preparing for his big fight this weekend in Quebec against Mathieu Germain.

“If I win this fight I go to England this summer to fight for the Commonwealth Title,” said O’Connell.

O’Connell is currently at 16 wins with ten knockouts, one loss and one draw as a professional.

His opponent, Germain, is currently at 12 wins and zero losses as a pro.

The fight will be televised on the French Network.

O’Connell, who has been fighting out of Red Deer for 19 years, currently trains out of the Red Deer Boxing Club downtown.

And his training schedule is not for the faint of heart.

His intense workouts include running and weights every morning, and training six days a week in the evening.

“I either go out to Edmonton or Calgary for sparring, or I go out to Lodgepole, that’s where my head coach lives and we have a training facility out there.”

The 29-year-old began boxing at the age of 10, when he got jumped by a group of older kids, his father thinking it was a good sport for self-defense.

After six months of training with his coach Rob Carswell, who is still in his corner every fight, he decided to turn O’Connell competitive, and the two started off travelling around Central Alberta, then Alberta and now Canada wide.

“I’ve been on Team Canada as an amateur as well. I’ve travelled the world boxing in the amateur ranks,” he said.

Although O’Connell loves the fighting aspect and everything that comes with it, like the adrenaline pumping through his veins, the build up and the wins, it’s being a role model to other kids that he likes most.

He started an organization called the Team Camo Kids, who look up to O’Connell, pushing themselves hard in the gym to be boxers one day themselves.

“These kids look up to me and they work so hard to try and get to where I am, so my community work, that’s the thing I like about boxing right now.”

He added that he does anti-bullying seminars, telling his story to others.

“If they start training, it’s more about building self-confidence than it is anything else because if you believe in yourself then other kids aren’t going to pick on you as much.”