Leicester Is What Made Me with Boxer CJ Challenger
CJ Challenger. Born and raised in Leicester, a city where it not only began, but which has been the backdrop to every jab, every training session, and every fight that has defined his career.
“Growing up in Leicester, I was around a lot of sporting legends,” he says. “It made me hungry. It made me want to reach stardom myself.”
His dad’s mother lived just minutes from Victoria Park, a place that would play a central role in his early sporting life, while his nearby school had a reputation for nurturing young athletes and fostering sporting excellence.
“The school I went to was unreal,” he remembers. “Pretty much every kid that came out of the school was either playing for Leicester, running for GB, or at least GB standard. I went into boxing professionally, but all kinds of sports thrived there. Growing up, we all had each other to bounce off. Seeing the boys do well in football, I’d be like, yeah, it’s my turn. I need to go.”
For Challenger, local heroes provided both inspiration and a blueprint. Randall Munroe, Tony Simpson, and Chris Pyatt, three homegrown boxing legends, shaped the young fighter’s ambition. “Seeing someone from our city do the same thing gave me a confidence boost,” he says. “It made it realistic. If they could do it, I could do it too.”
CJ’s journey from Leicester streets to the professional ring has been defined by that same local energy, that same network of peers and role models.
For CJ Challenger, as with so many athletes from the city, Leicester is more than a home. Leicester is what made me.
