Former female boxing champ Leah Mellinger plans a return to the ring--but this time she'll be on the other side of the ropes as a manager and promoter.
By Keith Schweigert
Published Nov 03, 2005 13:40
Only this time, she’ll be on the other side of the ropes.
Mellinger, a 33-year-old Willow Street resident and former professional boxer under Terry Nye and later Barry Stumpf, is hoping to pass on what she learned in the ring as a boxing coach and promoter.
Her first production is an amateur card Saturday night at Workouts Fitness Campus, 2301 Harrisburg Pike.
“I’ve found I enjoy teaching other people what I know,” says Mellinger. “I’ve devoted a large part of my life to this, and I like passing on what I’ve learned.”
Saturday’s card will feature 12 bouts between fighters from Lancaster, Columbia and York. Mellinger hopes to promote a few shows a year at the Fitness Campus, the former site of Golden Meadows Swim Center.
The new facility, which is owned by partners Mike Kellam and Don Anderson, is an 11-acre campus that features an outdoor Olympic-sized pool, an indoor swimming facility, a finess center, a rock-climbing wall and several racquetball courts.
Mellinger has been teaching a boxing fitness class there since May.
Her class is non-contact regimen that incorporates the training methods she learned during her pro boxing career.
“It’s a lot of cardio work and boxing drills,” she says. “It’s very intense. It’s not watered down at all. You’re basically learning everything about boxing, without the sparring.”
But when a few of her clients approached her and expressed an interest in adding sparring to the regimen in hopes of eventually getting in the ring for real, the idea of becoming a serious trainer was born.
“They asked about the possibility of sparring and maybe moving on to actual fights, and things took off from there,” Mellinger says.
Mellinger has applied for a coaching license from the U.S. Olympic training facility in Colorado Springs, Colo. She hopes to have her license in time to begin training boxers for her next show at the Fitness Campus.
Saturday’s card is to promote the facility and let the public know she’s looking for fighters, Mellinger said.
“It’s also a chance for our local fighters to have another venue,” she says.
The Fitness Campus has all the amenities of a boxing gym, Mellinger says.
“They have everything a fighter needs,” she says. “It was all set up for me.”
Mellinger has been teaching boxing fitness classes since she ended her pro career four years ago. She started out at Stumpf’s East Side Athletic Club and moved to the Fitness Campus when it opened in the spring.
The idea of training fighters appeals to her, although she admits her nerves will be frayed when one of her charges enters the ring.
“(Training) is a lot harder on me,” she says. “You become very protective of the people you train. It’s very nerve-racking — it’s a completely different kind of pressure than what I had when I was fighting.”
Mellinger said her training methods will incorporate what she liked and disliked from her days as a pro fighter.
“I’ll try to ask myself what would I have wanted to hear and what would have helped me in certain situations,” she says. “There were things that worked with me and things that didn’t. I want to use the stuff that did.”
Mellinger hasn’t fought since scoring a unanimous decision over Shakira Witherspoon in 2000. She finished her career with a 12-5-1 record, winning three junior-welterweight titles during that span.
Asked if she misses fighting, Mellinger laughs.
“I do,” she says. “I miss having a goal to work toward and the incentive to train hard. I miss the competition.
“But I don’t miss not having any life outside boxing. I just didn’t have the luxury of free time anymore.”
These days, Mellinger keeps busy. In addition to her boxing duties, she started her own demolition company, following in the footsteps of her father, Art, who has run U.S. Recycling and Wrecking for 30 years.
“Free time is over-rated,” she says with a chuckle. “I like to stay busy.”
NOTES: Saturday’s card will begin at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $15 for general admission and $25 for ringside seats.
Tickets are on sale at Workout Fitness Campus. For more information, call 560-5600.
