Tongan-New Zealand amateur boxer, Matt Mataika has switched allegiance to Tonga ahead of next year’s Olympic Games.

Matt trains under the renowned coach, Isaac Peach in West Auckland. He wears the “super heavyweight crown” from last month’s national championships in Tauranga and is also a former NZ Golden Gloves champion.

New Zealand Stuff reported that the boxer switched teams to avoid a bill of up to $12,000 in order to attend the competition in the Solomon Islands on November in the best shape possible.

A conversation between Peach and City Kickboxing trainer Doug Viney, who also coaches the Tongan Olympic boxing team and vowed to provide financial assistance, helped make up their minds.

“I talked to him [Viney] regarding the options and it became apparent that [representing Tonga] was a good option for us,” Peach told NZ Stuff.

Matt will need to win the super heavyweight competition held across five days in the second week of the Pacific Games in order to qualify for the Olympics.

Yet according to Peach, if he had accomplished that feat while still flying the New Zealand flag there would still be no guarantee of a place in Paris.

“With Tonga, you have to qualify for Tonga, then you go to the Pacific Games, you win that and you go to the Olympics –So to us, having another option with Tonga, it's a no-brainer.”

While disappointed to lose Matt to Tonga, Boxing New Zealand's president Steve Hartley stressed that his predicament was by no means unique.

However, Peach has high hopes for Matt, a powerful, 193cm heavyweight who sparred with Joseph Parker in the lead-up to the former WBO heavyweight champion's domestic clash with Junior Fa two years ago.

Matt still holds a 14-2 record as an amateur and has already fought twice as a professional, stopping both his opponents inside the distance.

He will make his third appearance inside a professional ring on August 26 when he meets on Joe Tufuga in a three-rounder on the undercard of Peach Boxing stablemate Mea Motu's IBO world super bantamweight title defence against Malawi's Ellen Simwaka (12-6-2, KOs) in Auckland.