Tony Jeffries on life after boxing

LIFE after boxing isnโ€™t easy, no matter who you are. I think the dream job for any fighter when they hang up their gloves is to be a host, pundit or commentator for a TV network like Sky Sports, and there is slight chance of that. However, when I say slight, I do mean very little. To be able to do this you need to have been a champion boxer, be able to talk well on camera, really know your boxing, have the right look and personality, and I guess be at the right place at the right time for job openings.

Even with a job like that it may not be the most financially stable job in the world, so us fighters have got to look for other things.

If you read my column regularly, or follow me on social media, you will know that Iโ€™m having a lot of success in the boxing fitness industry now and since I retired from the boxing scene. I now teach other people how to teach boxing. Personal trainers, fitness professors, boxing and fitness enthusiasts have been among the close to 2000 people we have taught to teach boxing over the last three years.

Sometimes courses like ours are overlooked by former boxers because we have a mindset that โ€œIโ€™ve boxed for X amount of years, itโ€™s easy to teach boxingโ€ย ย – which by the way is a bad mindset to have, and Iโ€™ll get to that in a minute. Last weekend I was in Sydney, Australia, teaching our certification course.ย ย There were 40 attendees and we had one former boxer who, like me, competed in the Olympics Games. He was from Ghana and it was crazy to see how much we both had in common. He also competed in the same Commonwealth Games as me in Melbourne, we both competed in the Worlds in Chicago back in 2007, both had 96 amateur fights and both retired as undefeated professionals with injuries.

After boxing I went into the fitness industry and he went into the construction industry like a lot of boxers do. It was sad to me that there was this 32-year-old Olympian that had dedicated his life to the sport, where he had success and ended up on a building site, hating what he does. This is just one case and is the same with a very high percentage of fighters.

After the course he loved it and now has the system and confidence to teach and retrain.

What fighters donโ€™t realise is that they have an education that they can use to have a great job that they love. It may not be degree in maths or a bachelors in business, but they have boxing as their education.

They know more about boxing than fitness professionals could dream of, but what they donโ€™t know is how to turn that knowledge into a business. It comes back to that mindset I was talking about before: โ€œWhy should I do a course on teaching boxing. Itโ€™s easy to teachโ€.

The thing that they donโ€™t know is how to speak to a middle-aged lady who wants to get fit but has no confidence; how to teach them from the ground up, and when they do make a mistake or feel awkward, what to say to them to give them the confidence so they enjoy it and want to come back again and again.

What I love to do now is teach people how to teach boxing, but Iโ€™m really passionate to help former boxers turn their knowledge into a business and do something they enjoy.

Iโ€™m teaching my course at the EIS Centre in Sheffield on August 25 and 26 If you know any boxers that hate their job, or are looking to get into fitness after boxing, do them a favour and tell them about this.

We have taken too many punches in the head not to make a living from it. This is coming from my heart because I genuinely care, here is this link to the course:ย https://boxnburnacademy.com/product/sheffield-england-august-25-26-level-1-2-combo/

if you use code boxnlife2018 you will save $100. And anyone that doesnโ€™t get value from the course will not pay a penny!

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