Boxer Lisa Brown’s Long Road To Glory

Longtime trainer, part-time actor, and former professional fighter John Kalbhenn is barking at his young pupils, encouraging them to stay focused while they struggle to skip rope and swat at swinging heavy bags.

It’s a typical day at Toronto’s legendary Cabaggetown Boxing club — aside from one major distraction.

Lisa ‘Bad News’ Brown, who has trained at the storied club for years, is posing for photos with her five championship belts, the latest (WBA super bantamweight) earned at Rumble at Rama XI against a heavily-hyped and favoured opponent who nonetheless withered under the 39-year-old’s searing pressure.

You can’t blame the neighbourhood’s aspiring pugs for straying from their training to momentarily eye the gleaming belts. The reality is most of them will never achieve similar ring success.  But that’s not the point. The belts are symbolic of something much larger than the fight game.

They represent what can be accomplished through hard work, dedication, and a stubborn refusal to accept mediocrity — characteristics which have served Brown well since she started boxing at the relatively advanced age of 27.

Holding the belt overhead was the culmination of more than a decade’s worth of blood and sweat.

Brown may have been an underdog going into her title fight against Ana ‘The Hurricane’ Julaton of the Philippines, but when the score cards were announced, it was all ‘bad news’ for the woman being hyped as the ‘female Manny Pacquiao’.

Brown admits she felt somewhat peeved by all the attention Julaton received leading up to the fight, but in the end it only served to fuel her fistic fire.

“I did feel a little disrespected but you know what, I’m always the underdog, I’m a road warrior, I go into other peoples’ hometowns and leave them with a bit of bad news.

“So with Ana coming to Canada and getting all the respect and all the wining and dining, it sort of put more fire in my belly and I knew what I had to do, which is give her a bit of bad news and that’s what I did.”

Brown’s road to glory was admittedly a long, arduous one.  As a youth in Trinidad her favourite sport was cricket, but after coming to Canada she found it difficult to continue with her passion and soon found herself falling out of shape.  Marrying professional boxer Errol Brown set her destiny in motion, but it took some prodding, and gentle ribbing, to get her into the ring.

“He used to tell me I was getting a little bit fat,” she admits with a smile.  “I would always come to the gym and just sit down and watch or do my homework and he said to me ‘Lisa you have athletic ability’ and he said ‘Why don’t you come to the gym and work out and try to lose weight?’ ”

“And I said I (didn’t) want to mess my face up.”

“I was interested in cricket back in Trinidad and I came here looking for the same sport but cricket wasn’t as recognized here in Canada, so slowly but surely I started coming to the gym and working out and they were impressed with my punching power and said ‘why don’t you start boxing?’ ”

It soon became apparent that she possessed a rare knack for ‘messing up’ her opponents’ faces.

“My first fight I knocked her out, and I couldn’t believe it, and I said you know what Lord this is my destiny I’m going to do it.”

“I knew I had that athletic ability, I was tough, I was aggressive, I liked to punch people, not knowing how hard I was punching…I said yeah this is it I’m going all the way and I never stopped.”

Brown’s husband Errol is her primary trainer, and having someone she loves and trusts in her corner is comforting.

“It’s very inspiring to know you have a family member that loves you and is there with you, and him being my trainer, we separate business and pleasure.  When we are at the gym it’s all business, when I’m home it’s just loving.”

“I trust his judgment.  My husband is my biggest inspiration, I am blessed to have such a great guy in my corner, and we do it together.”

Somewhat remarkably, the once out-of-shape girl who didn’t want to ‘mess her face up’ is Canada’s most decorated professional boxer of all time.

The attention she’s receiving is well deserved and it serves as validation that hard work reaps rewards.  It’s a message Brown hopes young people will take to heart, whether in the squared circle or the slug fest known as life.

“It’s a great thing for me to teach them my motto, which is Discipline, Desire, Dedication and Determination.  As long as you have those and you can put it together you can be something great, so I try to instill that confidence in the youth that’s coming up today.”

“A little bit of dedication and believing in yourself will take you as far as you want to go.”

All photos by Michael Talbot michael.talbot@citynews.rogers.com