Beyond The Ropes: Lekeisha Pergoliti

Beyond The Ropes: Lekeisha Pergoliti

Liverpool is often referenced as the fighting city, and with good reason. It has a rich history in fighting, both inside and outside of the ring. It was a political pawn in those deeply depressing Thatcher years of much doom and gloom. But the city has spawned an endless number of world champions. John Conteh, Natasha Jonas, Callum Smith, and others have reigned supreme over the years. Nick Ball is currently keeping the old tradition of success on the world stage going.

Last month, Liverpool was home to the World Amateur Championships, and for the Australian female team, it was a tournament of high reward. Tasha Flint came home with a gold medal around her neck, Emma-Sue Greentree left Liverpool with a bronze, and Lekeisha Pergoliti completed the set when she secured a silver medal after coming up short against Natalia Bogdanova in the final.

“Making it to the final and getting a silver medal still feels super surreal,” Pergoliti told FightPost. “When you go to the World Championships, there are no easy fights. You come up against the best of the best, and I am super thrilled with my result. Obviously, straight after the final, I was absolutely gutted not to get the gold. But after taking some time to process, I am very happy with my result. Now, we just work on getting better and keep on improving.”

The key message from the tournament for the 23-year-old was improvement. The progress she has made over the course of her career to reach this point, and the aim to now get even better going forward.

“Yeah, of course, the goal is to keep improving and learning,” Pergoliti says. “I feel like I still have so much to learn and improve on, especially in these next few years leading into the next Olympics. I definitely take it one fight at a time and focus on the task in front of me, and then go from there.”

Alongside Flint and Greentree, Pergoliti was part of that incredibly successful Australia female team in Liverpool. A united team in many ways. “Our female team is super strong. We all work really hard and constantly push each other to be the best we can be. Our head coach, Santiago, definitely contributes to our success with his knowledge and passion. We also all work really hard with our home coaches, who are all top quality in Australia. We have all improved so much with more international experience, which I think has been key to our success. Team Australia as a whole is very united, and we support each other with all the wins, losses, and lessons.”

Pergoliti isn’t resting on her laurels. Only a few short weeks after her silver medal in Liverpool, the Australian is already thinking of what is potentially next for her.

“The Commonwealth Games are definitely set on the horizon for me,” Pergoliti told me. “We have trials in January, and I plan on winning my spot on the team so I can go to Glasgow 2026. After that comes the World Championships in 2027 and the Olympic Games in 2028. So we just keep moving and hopefully qualify for these key events.”

It’s only in recent times that boxing on the Olympic stage has been safeguarded after a period of much doubt, when there were genuine fears that boxing would be excluded from the Olympic movement. For Lekeisha Pergoliti, it makes a long-time dream more than achievable.

“It means the world to me,” Pergoliti admitted. “From when I started boxing, I have always wanted to be an Olympian. Watching the Aussie team pave the way for us throughout my young years gave me so much motivation and drive to get to the same spot and even more. Last year, Team Australia brought home two bronze medals, and Caitlin Parker was the first female to ever medal. This has been great motivation for all of us to strive for this type of greatness and gives us all the belief that it is possible to achieve our dreams of standing on the podium at the Olympics.”

It’s been a somewhat frustrating year for the aspiring Olympian, but one that has ended on the incredible high of that silver medal in Liverpool. A short period of rest will be followed by a return to the daily grind and chasing further glory in the coming years. “Now, I take some time to reset and spend time with family and friends. I had a few injuries this year that I can finally take care of them properly. Our year starts early January, so I will start my preparations in November.”