HE'S the karate kid with big hair to match his big build, but it wasn't always this way for 17-year-old Andrew Ravuna.

Born four months premature - no bigger than a soft drink can - he clung to life in the intensive care unit of Brisbane's Mater Hospital.

He weighed just 500g and his mum Andrea feared she would not bring him home.

Andrew not only survived, he grew into a strapping, 190cm, 100kg-plus black-belt karate champion.

The one-time "Coke Can Kid" is now crushing his opponents at martial arts tournaments around Australia, where he is known and feared as "Afro Man".

He has won seven national titles and been inducted into the International Sport Karate Association Hall of Fame.

Next week, he will fly to Orlando, Florida, for the ISKA US Open - effectively the sport's world championships, contested by more than 6000 karate exponents.

It's his first overseas tournament and he will be joined by six clubmates from Nerang's Combined Martial Arts Academy, including 11-year-old black belt Tom Isakson.

They have spent their school holidays training several hours a day.

Andrew said he had to get special security clearances to take his swords and nunchaku overseas.

"Everybody wants to get Afro Man but I'm going over there to win," he said.

Originally published as Coke Can Kid grows into feared Afro Man