Cape Town's Boxing Boss- Matthew Leisching

Ever scrolled through your timeline and noticed a specific friend posting videos and pictures of their success? We’ve seen the videos, we’ve seen the pictures… but now, we see the humble little guy behind being Cape Town’s boxing boss, Matthew Leisching. Well spoken of, and always praised by his students, Leisching (25) took the time out to let us in on his busy schedule, in and out of the gym.

 

For Leisching, boxing has been in his family since 1952. His great uncle won commonwealth gold and bronze in the Olympics. Leisching’s dad was also involved in boxing in the early years of his life. At the age of 9, Leisching’s dad took him into the changing room with one of Brian Mitchell’s fighter’s shortly before his fight.

Little Leisching, feeling completely in his element, asked if the boxing gloves were hard, to which he received a little jab to the head, followed by a smile. Leisching was amazed, and that was the start of his career in boxing.

With Leisching’s growing passion, he started training under Anton Gilmore in the South of Johannesburg from around the age of 12.

Leisching is currently the only boxing coach in Cape Town developing pro boxers “as I do not poach boxers, I make my own”. Leisching goes on to tell us about a pro boxing development fight night at The Side Show on Thursday 28^th May 2015. He adds in that “It is Cammando’s bill, he is promoting our boys from PFA”.

While Leisching admits that he doesn’t have much free time from the gym, he does manage to spend time with the people close to him, having some down time to just chill. Leisching has a gorgeous sister, Gina, who is a doctor... Leisching also has a pet cat… yes, tough old Matt has a cat… named Floyd (that just makes it not seem all fluffy and cute, haha).

Matthew Leisching with his sister, Gina Leisching

Leisching spends roughly 10hours per day (yes, really) in the gym, from training fighters to general clients and of course, not forgetting training himself. These training times include Saturday morning and holidays as Leisching pushes through weekends with a strong will and determination to get to the top.

“I have never sustained any bad injuries. I look after myself, because my body is my lively hood. I treat it like gold.” Says Leisching.

We asked Leisching if there was a special lady in his life (yes, I know… you’re welcome ;) we all know you would never have asked him yourself, haha) to which he responded “I don't have a special girl in my life at the moment. There’s lots of time for that… right now I need to concentrate on my career” (I don’t think he realizes that makes him even more attractive) haha, anyway…

Matthew Leisching with EFC fighter Don Madge

Leisching grew up around fighting, trained and sparred with a few of the best, but coaching has always been his path.

“I’ve never done anything else with my life except boxing” says Leisching, adding “And it’s something I’ll do for the rest of my life… Hopefully, one day, my name can go down in the history books”.

When asked about his role model, Leisching told us about Colin Nathan. “He is a great coach, has done what I dream to do and carries himself as the perfect professional” furthermore, he would be honoured to meet a few, or any of the “great” in the sport, “it would be a dream come true” says Leisching.

Matthew Leisching wrapping his fighter's hands

When asked about lessons learnt, Leisching said “The biggest thing I’ve learnt is no matter what level anyone is on, you can learn at least one thing from them that you can use to better yourself”. When asked about plans to open his own gym, Leisching said

“I will definitely be opening my own gym when the time is right, but I’m happy at PFA. We are a family.”

Leisching goes on to say “Mike Mouneimne, the owner of PFA, is very experienced and we make a great team. People think this is an individual sport, but it’s far from that”.

Being a fighter and having had one on one boxing sessions, I know that your boxing coach, becomes one of the most important people in your life, especially when training for a fight… In agreement, Leisching admits “Being a boxing coach is the hardest but most rewarding job around… Emotionally and physically” but leaves us with the advice: “Learn to believe in yourself, you could surprise yourself and the world”.

 

BoxingBarbie thanks Matthew Leisching for taking the time out of his busy schedule to catch up with us. For further details, follow Matthew on Instagram or Twitter: @MattLeisching