Palawa boxer Shaun Thomas, inspired by his sons, keeps sparring.

Most 41-year-olds would get out of the fight game for good, content to lick their wounds and walk away in one piece.

The boxer from Cape Barren Island enters the ring with his wits about him to keep challenging not just the skills of his rivals, but the hearts and minds of his sons Archie and Taten.

"I was almost going to retire, but the last week I sat down with my two boys," Thomas said.

"I said to them that dad was thinking about either retiring or we have one more fight and win one last belt.

"My six-year-old said, 'We need two belts, dad', and the eight-year-old was like, 'so we can have one each'."

That will be another Pro-Box Pacific gold belt around their waists, imitating their hero.

The latest strap follows eight Tasmanian titles across an array of weight divisions and includes two prized silver medals at nationals and a bronze at the Oceania Games.

All that comes in the midst of taking a hiatus from 2008 until 2015 – before his eldest child was born – when most in the sport are in their prime.

But the zest for life of his sons, who watch every time dad dons the gloves, had given the pint-sized pugilist motivation to have another crack after his 34th birthday.

And talk about getting better with age.

Five wins in the last seven bouts comes after an unflattering start to his professional record that only began at 26.

That was at a time in which Thomas also had a strong focus on a career inside the justice system, fighting for Indigenous communities right across the Top End in family violence education and treatment programs.

"That's why I always tell the boys that you have to be healthy in the body, but also you have been healthy in the head," he said.

Thomas has since worked with victims of crime across western Victoria and now has a job in Aboriginal Health for a Melbourne paediatric clinic, aiding high-risk Koori kids out of home and in child protection with carers.

It is a valuable lesson for his impressionable boys from the Lumaranatana man about not only surviving – just as his mob off the Tasmanian north-east coast have amid the government intervention in their lives – but thriving both inside and outside the ropes.

"I was never going to be the retired fighter that gets lost when it's over because that was one of my worst fears," he said.

Thomas has not so much been fighting above his weight over the years, but more so beyond his age and his height. That changed in his last contest for the vacant Pro-Box Pacific light-heavyweight belt.

The story behind the unexpected title shot still makes Thomas laugh.

"I don't think there has ever been a lightweight or a super-featherweight that has ever gone up to the light-heavyweight division to win a belt," he says after jumping up five weight divisions.

"I've never heard of it."

In the search for his first match-up in more than three years, three opponents pulled out one after each other quite suddenly.

A replacement was found only nine days out from the scheduled date when 35-year-old Bentley Shefford came forward.

But there was a catch. The condition was that Thomas would have to bulk up eight kilograms, just to meet the sanctioned cut-off point to make the light-heavyweight limit.

"I ate until the cows came home for the nine days, as I went from 68 to 76 kilos," he says.

He made weight on the back of eating a late-night diet of chicken, rice, pasta, steak and, of course, kangaroo.

This was July 2021. In 2020, Thomas had been under way to getting back to the best shape of his life. That was not about a fight, but wanting not to be a victim of living in Covid-19 times.

"I'm the first one to say that drinking got me, the couch got me, and lockdown got me to a space where I had to make some changes and got involved back in the gym which was a safe spot for me," Thomas said.

Just four months in, Thomas dropped 26 kilograms after living on 1200 calories a day.

That made the idea of putting most of that weight back on seem crazy, even in boxing circles where one moment a boxer is steaming through a sauna and the next is digging into a deep bowl of spaghetti.

Taking on Shefford, he would have to combat a southpaw, who not only had 14 bouts, but a further 120 in Muay Thai boxing.

The most amusing part was the look of a 191-centimetre Shefford measuring up to a 163-centimetre Thomas.

"They made a bit of fun of me at the weigh-in, like bending his knees down a bit and being a bit of a smart arse," Thomas said.

"I was like, 'we'll see, we'll see'."

Thomas added his rival had "more abs than he had toes".

Despite Shefford cutting weight late to fill out five kilos, Thomas made sure the fight wouldn't last longer than 67 seconds.

Thomas shook off a left uppercut that just scraped the cheekbone before landing a left hook for a fourth career knockout.

It was validation ahead of his next Oceania Pro-Box title fight set down for April 15 that age is little more than a number.

"When I start getting hit with punches I shouldn't get hit with, I'll gracefully hung up the gloves, and do so not in anger," Thomas said.

"I'm not that beaten-up 41-year-old pro boxer. I haven't taken that punishment – I am kind of blessed like that."