I'll show Paul Gallen who the tough guy is, says Hika Elliot

KIWI fighting machine Hika Elliot who wants to destroy Paul Gallen's tough-guy reputation.

KIWI fighting machine Hika Elliot who wants to destroy Paul Gallen's tough-guy reputation.

Hika Elliot is a 114kg New Zealand rugby union hooker who is also a martial arts expert.

Unbeaten in 62 kickboxing fights, the 26-year-old will square off against Gallen in the Fight For Life boxing charity event next Saturday night in Auckland.

But asked what his aim would be when he stepped in the ring against the hard-as-nails NSW captain, charity appeared the furthest thing from his mind.

"I want to go for the knockout," Elliot said.

"When I tell people who I am fighting a lot of people say; 'Whoa, he is a bit of a tough nut.' He is. But with my experience in martial arts I am looking for a knockout."

Elliot has been studying martial arts since he was three and qualified for the 2008 World Karate Championships in Japan but had to withdraw because of his commitments to the All Blacks.

"I wanted to go because I have an older brother and two older sisters who both competed and won the world championships in their respective levels of competition," he said.

In fact, his brother Stephen still competes in cage fighting and they have been training together for the past three and a half months to prepare for this fight.

"Because my brother is still competing I get in and spar him," he said. "He is heavyweight, bigger than me, so we have some pretty good battles."

He said they had been training morning and night and six days a week.

Asked if he was nervous to be taking on a man regarded as one of the toughest in rugby league, he said: "With my martial arts background it is more excitement than nervousness. When you step into the ring you have only got yourself to count on.

"That is a huge adrenalin rush for me because I know it is either me or him.

"At the end of the day one of us has to fall.

"If you look at it like that you have just got to put everything on the line."

While boxing and martial arts are different disciplines, Elliot said there are similarities.

"In terms of the basic skills it is similar to martial arts," Elliot explained.

"But I say to a lot of people when you do martial arts your first instinct is to throw a kick but you can't do that obviously in the boxing ring. But it has been really good."

The event will be televised in Australia on Main Event and also feature NRL stars Greg Bird, Willie Mason and Manu Vatuvei.

Every fight on the card also appears to be a well-matched contest.

Asked if international pride was a motivation for the Kiwis, Elliot said: "I don't know if it is so much that, I just think it is personal pride.

"You are putting yourself and your name out there in front of hundreds of thousands of people on TV in New Zealand and Australia so you have to put your best foot forward and definitely give it a good crack."