Saphya Douglin, like so many working mothers in America these days, has two jobs. One of them is accounting. The other? Training her twenty-two year old son Denis, a promising middleweight boxer. Denis is 11-0 with seven knockouts and his eyes on the world championship.
Douglin decided to make his mom his primary trainer because he felt as though he was learning more from her than he was from his other coaches. Denis started his career training at the famous Gleason’s Gym in New York. But the training that felt like it was really making a difference wasn’t coming from Gleason’s. It was coming from his mother, in their basement after work where she helped him practice.
It was a hard decision for a teenager to make – deciding to hang out with your mom all the time isn’t exactly the cool kid thing to do. But today he’s happy with his choice. He’s known as “Da Momma’s Boy,” and said he’s truly a product of her teaching.
“When I first began, it was really awkward because I really didn’t want to listen to her in the gym,” he told Yahoo Sports. “It was like, ‘You’re my Mom. Stay at home. Stay away. Whatever.’ But as I got older and I began to mature, I started to respect her knowledge of the game more and more. She was teaching me the right things. She’s a good coach just like anyone else, but she just happened to be my mom.”
Saphya had hoped to be a boxer herself someday until she was injured, ending her chances at a pro career. But, she was fascinated by the sport, so she kept working and eventually became a certified amateur coach. She continues to study and learn.
“We pretty much have a great relationship,” Denis said. “Whatever she tells me, I do. She’s my mom, but when we’re in the gym, she’s just my trainer. I don’t see her then as my mom. She treats me like a client, like one of her boxers. She doesn’t treat me like her son. I don’t even call her Mom in the gym. Mostly, I just call her Coach. We keep business and personal separate.
“I’ve always been close with her and she’s been like my best friend forever, but in the gym, it is our work time and that’s when she’s the coach and I’m the student.”
