Lekeisha Pergoliti: “I don’t box for the money; I box because I love it.”

Lekeisha Pergoliti: “I don’t box for the money; I box because I love it.”

Lekeisha Pergoliti once played football and baseball. A broken ankle when she was 14 prompted a move to boxing. Pergoliti is now a National Champion and dreaming of going to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Born in Bunbury, Western Australia, Pergoliti will turn 23 later this month. She looks back on her early formative years with much fondness.

“I come from a strong Italian background, and both my parents are first-generation Australians,” Pergoliti relayed to me. “I also have one younger sister. I grew up in a small rural town in the southwest of Western Australia, Australind. I grew up around lots of family and a strong community.”

From a very early age, sport was very much a part of her life. “I have always been involved in many sports growing up. I was super girly in my early years, but from the age of 11, I really got into soccer and basketball, and then at 14, I started boxing.”

It was an unfortunate injury that was the catalyst for her initial entry into boxing.

“I was always around boxing growing up as my dad had his own tin shed gym in our backyard from before I was born,” Pergoliti told me. “I never really took an interest until I broke my ankle and couldn’t play soccer. My dad and soccer coach suggested that I come into the gym for fitness, and I absolutely fell in love with the sport and never looked back.”

“I truly believe the sport chooses you, and it has taught me so many things that I now use not only in the ring but outside,” Pergoliti says of what the attraction of boxing is to her. “I love how it brings people together from all different parts of the world, different backgrounds and beliefs. We are all the same when we step foot in the gym. No one is worth more or less than another person.

“Boxing allows me to be seen and appreciated. I am the best version of myself when I box. I am happy, healthy, and motivated. It is my purpose right now, and I plan to go all in.”

Pergoliti is over forty fights into her boxing career, but she still remembers her very first ring walk.

“I had my first fight at 14, and I remember being so excited and ready,” Pergoliti told FightPost. “My mum was absolutely mortified and cried before I fought, but that didn’t stop me. My mum is now used to me fighting and is one of my biggest supporters. I won my first fight against a girl from Victoria who had already had seven fights. All I remember is wanting to do it again as soon as possible.”

Those forty-odd fights have brought plenty of success. Her resume is already incredibly deep. Those achievements include being a two-time Golden Gloves Champion, the 2024 National Champion, an Australasian Golden Gloves Champion, and Pergoliti is currently ranked the number one fighter at her weight in Australia.

“Winning my first international gold medal overseas at the Independence Cup in the Dominican Republic earlier this year in March,” Pergoliti adds when I ask her what her proudest achievement is to date.

Pergoliti is hoping to qualify for the World Championships, which will take place in Liverpool later this year and is also targeting the 2026 Commonwealth Games. But Los Angeles and competing on the Olympic stage is her ultimate long-term target. “I plan on giving my all for the next few years to make it to the Olympic Games.”

But when I asked Pergoliti if she had any plans to turn professional, her reply was definitive, “I don’t box for the money; I box because I love it.” A fighter clearly all in on that Olympic dream.