Giving cancer a knuckle sandwich

When Lisa van Loggerenberg found that she was suffering with stage three breast cancer, she did not allow it to keep her down.

The 22-year-old mother of twins, Brian and Shannon (3), decided to punch the lights out of the disease by taking up boxing.

She is a newcomer to the sport and, with just under a month of intensive training at the Northmead-based Thai Combat Gym (TGC) with her coach, Kru Lloyd Kemertgoglou, she already has her first female bantamweight fight lined up.

This will take place at former World Boxing Union junior middleweight and Commonwealth super-middleweight champion Ruben Groenewald’s White Collar boxing tournament, on August 1, in Kibler Park. “Boxing is always something that I have wanted to do and for me it is more a case of getting the word out there that, no matter what situation you are dealt in life, you can achieve anything if you set your mind to it,” she said.

With fight night looming, “The Pink Gladiator”, as she has been nicknamed, has been forced to learn the ropes extremely quickly.

“It has been tough,” van Loggerenberg said.

“I do personal one-on-one sessions with my coach every night and there are no breaks.

“I have been working hard and will be ready come fight night.”

Van Loggerenberg added that she will be giving it her all at the fight and admits that she knows absolutely nothing about her opponent.

Kemertgoglou, a former national Muay-Thai champion who has gone back to his boxing roots with van Loggerenberg, said he has been impressed with his student’s attitude.

“For her, as a woman suffering with cancer, to be doing the training that she has been doing is quite something,” he said.

“It normally takes six to eight months to prepare someone in basic punching techniques, so for a fighter with only a month’s preparation and zero training behind her she has a good future ahead of her.”

The coach is under no illusions, though, and is strict on disciplining van Loggerenberg.

“I make sure that she cries every lesson,” he said.

She is also trying to raise funds for the Little Fighters Cancer Trust through the sale of Pink Gladiator beanies and shirts.

The bantamweight realises that she may be in for a tough time come fight night, yet believes this is the first step in the start of an exciting new journey.

“You can’t let a small hiccough get you down in life – nothing is impossible,” she said.

“I am living my life and doing everything that I want to do and, just because I have cancer, it does not mean that I am incapable.”

For more information about TCG or van Loggerenberg’s fund-raising initiative, contact Kemertgoglou on 083 646 6477.