At just 19 years of age, Jesse Astill packed up his life to chase a dream.
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Now, nearly three years after leaving Orange for the Gold Coast, the Muay Thai fighter is ever so close to reaching the heights of the sport.
"I moved up here to fight full time and pursue the dream," he said.
"I've got the mentality that you've got to do what you've got to do. It was just pack up and go because you can't sit around waiting for the right time."
With two Australian belts already in his possession and a third title fight on the horizon, the 20th ranked WBC cruiserweight in the world has proved he has the desire to improve each and every day.
![Jesse Astill, pictured alongside partner Sarah Smith, after winning the Australian WBC title on February 25. Picture by Scott Waye. Jesse Astill, pictured alongside partner Sarah Smith, after winning the Australian WBC title on February 25. Picture by Scott Waye.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/YN4FA67iw2pXwXjwm2vmnJ/1b2a190c-a2d4-4ec1-b9fd-c0f886cdf2ac.jpg/r520_320_5453_3040_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"I've been working on the tools as a carpenter and pretty much training every single day," Astill added.
"It's essentially work, train, work, train. It's hard. They're probably two of the hardest jobs, working in construction and going to train full-on, but you've just got to do it."
With half-a-dozen bouts under his belt since making the move up north, a regular day during fight camp consists of early morning training sessions, a ten-hour work day and another three hours of training out of Strikeforce Gym after that.
"It's pretty hectic," he added.
Asked about his growth as a fighter since he moved from Orange, Astill said it had been "100-fold."
"Everything is so different up here and you have so many options being surrounded by high level fighters all the time."
The 22-year-old's next fight will take place in Canberra on May 26 where he will vie for the ISKA (kickboxing) Australian title.
But while holding multiple national titles and being ranked one of the best in the world is nice, Astill won't settle for second best.
"The goal at the moment is within the next two years, to become that number one spot, be that world champion. Being number 20 doesn't do it for me, I gotta be number one," he said.
"Winning this next fight would be a great stepping stone to put me into that international level. We've got these next couple and then, hopefully, we'll be looking at an international title fight."
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