Today we’d like to introduce you to Avril Mathie.
Avril, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started boxing a little over 10 years ago, in Australia where I’m from. I had been doing muay thai for fitness on and off for years and loved it, I would go to Thailand all the time to train, but I never had any interest in fighting. Then I broke my foot, so I couldn’t kick or knee because I couldn’t put the foot back on the ground, but I could hobble around on the outside of my foot. So I started boxing because it was the only thing I COULD do… I couldn’t run, jump, or nothing (well nothing fun… I could lift weights but that’s boring haha). As I started to learn boxing, the trainer started to teach me how to defend which led to me wanting to get punched so I could test my skills, which led to sparring, and within 6 months and still with a messed up foot, I had my first fight. I was addicted. Prior to boxing (and during) I had done many pageants. The thrill of getting up on stage, performing, answering questions, etc was a thrill that I was becoming comfortable with and didn’t pump the adrenaline so much as it had when I first started, so when I started fighting it was like I got all that excitement back but 100x more.
Over the next couple of years, I was competing a lot in (and winning) international pageants all over the world and often in Las Vegas. Through conversations with and introductions to the boxing community via media personnel there, I came to realize that the USA, particularly LA or Vegas was probably where I needed to be if I wanted to take boxing seriously once a day. Fast forward to 2016, after 11 amateur fights and a divorce, I decided that this was my next step. Though before moving to the USA, I coincidentally happened to be on an extended trip in USA and Brazil, where a friend and fellow boxer, former world champ Chris Algieri invited me to visit South Florida. As a beach girl, I immediately fell in love, and when he introduced me to some great gyms here, I decided Miami Beach would be my home, not LA or Vegas.
Although there are great gyms in Miami, it was super difficult/impossible as a female to get amateur fights here, so I would regularly go up to Chicago to fight. I fought a lot there and would often go to stay for weeks or a month at a time to get great sparring and regular fights there. The boxing community is small once you’re in it, so it’s easy to get the town talking if you’re good and personable, and I was getting a lot of opportunities there. This gave me the idea to jump on a plane to LA, Vegas, New York, and London also and just go around to different gyms, spar, make friends, train, etc. It put me in front of lots of important people in boxing and gave me opportunities not usually given to someone of my level and limited amateur background, which was cool.
After a couple of years in the USA and 20 amateur fights, I had an opportunity to turn pro and I took it. Looking back, I probably wasn’t ready at that time haha, but I’ve learned a lot on the way, had some tough fights, and managed to remain undefeated, so I have no regrets. My boxing career took a little standstill during covid, made worse when I badly broke my ankle as soon as gyms opened up again mid-year. During this time and as a result, I also struggled a lot mentally and with my self-confidence, so even by 2021 and once I had mostly recovered, it took a while for me to put myself back out there and start making opportunities happen for myself again.
I fought twice later in 2021, including in Miami where about half of all the people in attendance were there for me, and on PPV on a big show in Dubai, so it was a great comeback. But this all halted again when in 2022, my management, MTK Global was shut down (google the story) and I was left trying to figure things out. I was quickly picked up by Peter Kahn, voted BWAA Manager of the Year and he wasted no time in getting me a world title shot against the IBF champ Ebanie Bridges. Unfortunately, in the process of signing contracts, the IBF overruled that Ebanie was to fight her mandatory challenger Shannon O’Connell instead and so our fight had to be canceled. Other girls that I called out for a replacement fight didn’t want to fight me so 2022 ended a little frustratingly.
But for all the frustrations, I kept showing up to the gym, getting better and better every day, and when at the New Year I was presented with the opportunity to fight at Madison Square Garden on Feb 4, albeit a weight division above my usual, I knew I was ready and I took it. My opponent was Ramla Ali, who had quite an impressive amateur career and is a fast-rising star in the pros. The fight was a big step up for both of us and on a huge international stage. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the win, but I did prove to the boxing world I can hang in the top tier, grew so much as a fighter, and gained a lot of new fans with a career-best performance and very exciting and toe-to-toe fight. The goal is now to get even bigger opportunities and world title shots in my own weight class this year.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Mostly injuries, and generally not from boxing! I didn’t have too many/role models for a big part of this journey and even when I did I often didn’t know the things to be paying attention to or questions to be asking, so it’s taken me years to learn to look after my body properly like a professional athlete should.
Also, my entry into boxing was quite an unconventional one, and it took a while for me to understand who was actually on my side and who was taking me for a ride. Boxing is very political and honestly, I feel like I did pretty well to figure it out in the end, but how different things could have been had I known things a lot earlier than I did.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
A big part of my success, besides my self-belief and go-getter, make-it-happen attitude, is that I’ve always shared my journey on social media and taken anyone who wants to come along for the ride. I’m very honest and have let people in with the ups and downs along the way, especially when I did my 18-episode youtube vlog The Avril Show in 2018/19. (It was soooo much work and I had a lot else on my plate, so I mostly just share that kind of content on my instastory now).
I’m most proud when I’ll be in some random part of the world, hiking up a mountain or in the middle of nowhere and someone will stop me to be like “My OMG you’re Avril! I started boxing (or whatever their ambition) because of you!” and tell me their whole inspiring story about how they changed their life and took on some amazing goal.
Honestly, that’s the highlight of my life. I LOVE hearing other people’s stories more than anything, and to know that I play an inspiring role in them is so cool to me.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Chris Algieri, former world champion boxer and sports nutritionist has been a HUUUUUGE mentor and friend to me in and out of boxing.
Jim Gibson, the owner of the $50,000 Las Vegas International Model Search created a lot of opportunities and important introductions for me that eventuated in my moving to the USA. He also sponsored me for my first visa.
Chris Carden, my boxing coach in Australia, was not my first one, but the one that really taught me fundamentals and how to box properly.
Dino Spencer, my first boxing coach in the US, great friend and a big part of the reason I decided on Miami.
Javiel Centeno, my boxing coach for the past 3+ years has taken my boxing to the next level and continues to pull the best out of me every day.
Derik Santos, another of my boxing coaches took me to a career-best performance fight last year.
My boyfriend, who will let me drag him to the gym late at night and use him as a punching bag when I want to drill new things I’ve just learned, cooks for me most days and helps me with my weight cuts
My everyday gym teammates, especially the girls that I’m always sparring and drilling with Christina Cruz, Carmen Dejong, Camila Panatta, and all my other sparring partners Maureen Shea, Evelyn Romo, Rosa Velez, and too many more to list, my teammates Xander Zayas and David Estrada that will often coach me in the gym when the coach is busy.
Peter Kahn, my current manager makes my life easier and is making big things happen for me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @avrilmathie
- Facebook: facebook.com/avrilmathie
- Twitter: @avrilmathie
- Youtube: @avrilmathie
Image Credits
Fab Fernandez, Josh Salcedo, Matt Roy, CoreSports, Xander Romanov, Ed Mulholland, and Paul Daniel
