Exclusive Interview with Boxing Coach, Michael Ragot

Introduction

Michael Ragot is the owner of the Ongata Rongai Boxing Club (ORBC). He used to box and is a coach. He invests a lot of time into youth and community events. The ORBC is a non-profit organization in Kenya, Africa. Mr Ragot, is also a climate activist who integrates his boxing with climate change and control.

Q & A

FightMatrix: Who was your mentor growing up?

Michael Ragot: Growing up, I didn’t really have a mentor. My father passed away when I was very little and I had to rely on myself to figure out who I wanted to be. I can say I’ve learned the hard way, through experience and I’m still learning. The people who I look up to the most I can say are mostly motivational speakers like Jim Rohn. In the sports world, I look up to Coach Prime or Deion Sanders.

 

FM: What inspires you?

MR: My main inspiration is to be the best I can be. To be the best version of myself that I can be able to be. I also inspire to be a great coach and produce world champions. Hopefully, after I’m gone, my legacy will live on after me for years.

 

FM: How did you get interested in boxing?

MR: Growing up, I grew up in a good neighborhood but the high school I went to was really tough. I got bullied in my first few months, that’s why I got into boxing. Though I was a boxing fan, I really wasn’t interested in it but when I joined high school at Langata High School, I started training at our local community church hall at Don Bosco. That’s where I started boxing.

 

FM: In 2017, you founded the Ongata Rongai Boxing Club (ORBC) in Kenya. As the current Director of the gym, you wear many hats. What exactly does your job entail?

MR: I am the director and head coach of our boxing club. The job description is a lot. It entails running the club on a day-to-day basis, Monday through to Saturday. Planning our weekly training sessions, ensuring that boxers train to the best of their ability, ensure that boxers are well, not sick. If they have problems at home, I have to look to sort them out. Ensuring that our boxers are in school, I ardently look for bursaries for our kids. Ensuring that we have training gear; boxing gloves, hand wraps, running shoes for the boxers, jump ropes, etc. Liaising with the parents to ensure the boxers are disciplined. Basically, creating a safe environment to ensure the club thrives.

 

FM: What are your short-term goal(s) and your long-term goal(s) that you have for your boxing club?

MR: Our current short-term goal is ensuring the boxing club becomes sustainable on its own. We want to create a cash flow through the club to enable us to cater for recurring costs and be able to pay schools fees and pay our boxers. Currently, we’re at Saint Mary’s Church social hall, the church allows us to train in the hall for free but we know that one day, this won’t be the case. We want to ensure that when that happens, we can be able to transition to a new place. With a cash flow coming in our club, this would be achievable. One of the ways we can achieve this is owning a boxing ring and starting a few small-scale businesses that our boxers can run while they’re not practicing in the club.

Our long-term goals is to be able to develop world champions. This is by transitioning them from a successful amateur boxer to professional. Also, the boxing club owning assets like a bus for transportation, land which we can build a permanent gym, and videography equipment. These are some of the goals which we have set for ourselves.

 

FM: What are your hobbies besides boxing and helping to uplift people in the combat sports industry?

MR: Some of my hobbies include networking, working out, reading motivation books, watching football, I’m a big Liverpool FC fan, and raising my kids. Basically, with being a coach, a full-time father, and my day job, most of my time is taken.

 

FM: What’s your favorite type of culinary dish to eat?

MR: My favorite food is Fish tilapia and ugali ugali, a common dish here in Kenya.

 

FM: Who is your favorite boxer of all time and why?

MR: My favorite boxer is Floyd Mayweather. He was the greatest in my generation when I watched boxing. I can say that he is who I’ve watched most. I’ve seen all of his fights plus also his amateur fights.

 

FM: How is Rongai boxing different from traditional Western boxing?

MR: I can say boxing in Rongai is still developing and still, I feel can’t be comparable to Western boxing. At ORBC specifically, we have juniors from seven years through to 15 years. We’re still looking for our own style of boxing which we hope to one day have. Boxing in Rongai started just a few years ago and we still have a long way to go but we trust in the process and we believe we’re on our way there.

 

FM: It’s wonderful that you are involved in being a climate change activist. Will you please elaborate on this. If you integrate this into the boxing industry, how do you do so?

MR: I was inspired to take on climate change as a boxing coach because boxing also represents some of the qualities we need to fight climate change; resilience and persistence. I use my influence in boxing to spur the message of being climate aware because in our area, climate change has had very drastic effects on the livelihoods of communities living in our region. We’ve already held one climate change talk in our club and we plan next year 2025 to even have a bigger talk and discussion on climate change and invite more collaborators and experts in this field.

FM: What motivates you to coach and train at the ORBC gym?

MR: My main motivation is helping out our kids to develop their talents and become the best that they can be in life. Growing up, I really didn’t have anyone who could guide me and show me the way forward, help me with crucial decisions in life. I am really motivated to see my boxers grow as good human beings who are disciplined, do well in school, develop their talent, and also care about each other and the environment.

 

FM: Do you have any pets? If so, what are their names and what kind of pets are they?

MR: I love all kinds of animals; dogs, cats. But currently, no. I don’t have any pets but in the foreseeable future I would like to keep a cat and a dog.

 

FM: You offer community events for specifically youth boxing. Will you please elaborate more on this topic.

MR: Most of what we do is we have free boxing and fitness clinics in and around our community. We host boxing matches with free entry as entertainment. We train our members for free. This year, we offered free First-Aid certification courses. This was free and had members of the community and also other boxing clubs in our community. We also had our yearly clean ups in our town. This enabled our kids to learn a crucial lesson about taking care of the community.

FM: I realize that your boxing club is a non-profit organization. As a non-profit, what do you do in terms of helping your community?

MR: We do a lot. Training kids for free through boxing talent development, town clean ups, free fitness classes, mentorship, fighting crime and drug abuse, providing a safe space for at-risk youth, fighting Femicide through training women on self-defense tactics at our local gym.

 

FM: What would you like your fans to know about you and take away from this interview?

MR: I am a very down-to-earth guy. I am passionate about changing lives through the sport of boxing and fighting climate change through my influence in the boxing scene. Always open to network. Anyone can reach out to me or to our club at any time either through contributing to our causes or sponsoring our kids.

Our email: orbc125@gmail.com

Website: www.orbc.co.ke

Facebook: Ongata Rongai Boxing Club

Instagram: Ongata Rongai Boxing Club or Team ORBC

Conclusion

Michael Ragot is an experienced boxing coach who is dedicated to helping his community, fighting climate change, and uplifting the local youth.  He is a true asset to the people of Kenya, and a wonderful representative of his country. We need more people like Mr. Ragot in this world!