In the old Transvaal Memorial Hospital for Children in Hillbrow, in what was once the dentist ward, young boys and girls from inner-city Johannesburg gather every day to channel their traumas through boxing at Fight with Insight: an open-access gym for under-resourced youth.

Boxing bags hang alongside old dentist lights. Newspaper cutouts of boxers line the walls. Young men with bulging muscles trickle in before training. Some are here to train for professional competitions. Other are here to simply have a safe space to go to, or to ask for advice from their coach Luke Lamprecht, a Child Protection activist.

“Boxing saved my life,” says Pedro Smith, one of the young boxers who hopes to go professional soon.

Watch the video below to learn more about this project:

Author