Rathbone Boxing Club From the trading floor to the fighting ring Interview with Manya Klempner What happens in a ring between two opponents is one small part of what goes into the sport of boxing. The physical, emotional and mental development that boxing training offers, which have demonstrative benefits to everyday life and wellbeing, creates a value far beyond merely exchanging blows in the ring until one person is left standing. We caught up with Manya Klempner, founder and operator of Rathbone Boxing Club in London England and found out what motivated her to set up a boxing gym in London’s heavyweight quarter. Manya, who is a former investment banker, explains that she had a baby in 2013 and started training with Greg White to lose the pregnancy weight that she had gained. “I didn’t seek Greg out for his boxing expertise, but it was serendipity that he was a great boxing coach,” she says, “In no small way, it has really changed my life. Greg was my first coach, and he is now Head Coach at Rathbone Boxing Club. Together we have crafted this vision.” THE CLUB Rathbone Boxing Club officially opened its doors on the 3rd June 2019, but it was a long time in the making. Manya explains that the idea was born in late 2015 and getting to where they are today was a journey fraught with ups and downs, trials
and tribulations, small victories yet even bigger challenges. “In line with boxing itself, not every step was forward, sometimes for each one forward there were two steps back,” she admits, “But ultimately, we got there. As Ali said, ‘Every champion was once a contender who refused to give up.’’ This rough start did allow for a lot of fine tuning along the way and despite the pain, it was all worth it. Not bad, considering that the main motivation was that Manya just wanted to have a place to train. Historically, boxing was a working-class sport, and in turn, most real boxing gyms were situated on council estates. They were non-profit
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