#26 "Who's Next: Jahzia Puohotaua | From Gangsta Dreams, Obese to Elite"

Send us Fan MailJahzia Puohotaua grew up in Whanganui, New Zealand, chasing a father he barely knew into the gang world — until his mother made the call that changed everything, sending him to Brisbane at 11 to start again. At 19, he returned to Brisbane for good, weighing 137kg and squeezed into 4XL pants, fully convinced he’d become a world champion boxer. What followed was “Allegiance Boxing” — training out of a mate’s garage and turning that belief into reality.Jahzia opens up about his professional career being cut short by a medical retirement at 25 after discovering an assist in his brain, and the identity crisis of losing the only thing he’d ever known himself to be. He talks about growing up a white Māori boy fighting to prove where he belonged, becoming a different kind of father than the one he had, and drawing on his years of pre-fight training camps and cutting weight — the do’s and don’ts learned through his own failures and successes — to help other boxers get fight-ready.This one’s about staying staunch when life takes the thing you built your whole identity around. As Jahzia puts it: “Anyone who’s ever judging you isn’t doing better than you. Keep going.”Trigger Warning: This episode may contain stories, experiences, or discussions that some listeners may find confronting or triggering. Listener discretion is advised.