For the first time in his kickboxing career, Dave Nielsen will enter the ring in San Diego. The owner of American Boxing in Pacific Beach will fight for the IKF California Cruiserweight Kickboxing title, the main event at the Battle at the ComiCon on July 25 at the 4th and B downtown. “It’s going to be pretty sick,” Nielsen said. “A lot of my students saw me fight in Costa Mesa, but there’s going to be a lot of my students and a lot of other people that are going to be able to see me fight.” Nielsen returned to competitive kickboxing at an event in Costa Mesa in January after a five-year absence. From 2000 to 2004, he was undefeated in muay thai competition – he currently has a 5-1 record. “The only accomplishment that I had was that I still hadn’t lost. When I stopped fighting six years ago, I hadn’t lost anything,” Nielsen said. “That’s a very weak accomplishment, in my opinion.” Nielsen got back into the ring upon students urging him to return to competitive fighting. “We like to have UFC parties for everybody, so everybody can get together and hang out,” Nielsen said. “We’d watch the fights and all my students were like, ‘Coach, why aren’t you in there?’” According to Nielsen, who is in his mid-30s, making the comeback has been challenging – but not from a physical aspect. “The psychological is the biggest challenge. You can get your conditioning and stuff in, but especially as I’ve gotten older, it’s like, ‘Am I too old? Have I gotten too slow?’” Nielsen said. “Getting your mind right and keeping your mind right during training is a big deal.” Whatever Nielsen is doing mentally has worked so far. He won his most recent fight in March at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio in such a fashion that the opponent he was slated to fight later that day, who was in the crowd, decided he did not want to fight Nielsen. “He basically dropped out of the tournament,” Nielsen said. “I was supposed to have a tournament style and I fought this one kid and the other guy didn’t want to fight me.” Nielsen said he also had trouble getting opponents during his first stint in kickboxing. “I’m a bit over 6 feet tall and I’m pretty lean and I’m aggressive with some pretty dominant strikes,” Nielsen said. “When someone sees someone else catching a flying knee and then they go flying across the ring on their back, that’s probably something that affects their psyche.” Administering punishment to his opponent isn’t actually Nielsen’s favorite part about competitive kickboxing. “There are mixed emotions when you go and fight,” he said. “Training is my favorite part, fighting is just the next step. You always want to test yourself.” General admission tickets for the fight cost $30 and VIP tickets are $75. Tickets can be purchased in person at American Boxing at 2710 Garnet Ave., by calling the gym at (858) 581-2694 or online at www.battlepass.com. Nielsen, who currently lives in Bay Park, started American Boxing six years ago. For the first two years, American Boxing was completely mobile – Nielsen trained fighters at San Diego Fight Club, taught classes at various gyms and made house calls for private clients. In 2005, Nielsen decided to get his own gym, and since then American Boxing has called PB home. Nielsen considers American Boxing a muay thai-dominant gym. He trains beginner, intermediate and advanced fighters, teaching muay thai, submission grappling, CrossFit, boxing and sparring. Pilates, cardio and personal training sessions are also taught at American Boxing. Monthly memberships at American Boxing range from $50 to $200 per month based on goals and training curriculum and day, and week passes are available. Personal training starts at $30 per hour. For more information visit www.americanboxing.net.