Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Hartman.
Hi Travis, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started boxing when I was six years old. I won three national championships all before the age of 13. I earned a bronze medal in the junior Olympics at 15. I went on to be ranked by the USA Boxing Magazine, No. 5 in the 125-pound division, when I was only 17. I graduated at 17-years-old from Osborn High School and was awarded the Kansas City Golden Gloves full-ride boxing scholarship to go anywhere I wanted to go. I chose Missouri Western State University because it was near home so I could still train for boxing with my dad who had been my trainer since I was six years old. I grew up in Osborn, Missouri with a population of 400, yes, I’m not missing a zero, 400 and only had 15 total people in my 2001 graduating class..
When I was 20, I qualified for the Western Olympic Trials in Bakersfield, California for a spot on the summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Three weeks before I was to leave for the trials in Jan. of 2004, I woke up to my house on fire early in the morning and it was a total loss. I still wanted to compete in the trials so my dad still took me out and I made it to the quarterfinals losing a decision on points and also getting food poisoning in the process. You could say I was definitely going through my own “trials” and tribulations at the time. While in California we started speaking to a boxing promoter in Missouri and decided that we would turn professional and make my pro debut three weeks later, March 12, 2004, after amassing 156 wins and only 13 losses in an approximately 14-year amateur career. Olympics at the time were amateur sports, so turning pro after the Olympic Trials was a big deal because it meant I could never compete again in the Olympics as a boxer. I made my pro debut on March 12 in St. Joseph, Missouri, where the Pony Express began and Jesse James ended, (I mentioned that because when I fought on HBO the announcer said it, lol). I won my fight by 2nd round technical knockout after I broke my opponent’s ribs and he couldn’t continue. I went on to go undefeated for 13 straight months as a pro before losing to Julio Caesar Chavez Jr.
I have now been professional 18 years and I have had 46 pro fights all over the world. I have fought in Germany, Denmark, France, Canada and was hired to be a sparring partner in Brisbane, Australia for the no. 1 middleweight in the world at the time. (Side story to that, my girlfriend at the time, wife now, was playing in the Australia Open Tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia and I was in New Zealand when I got the call to train in Brisbane. Reason I bring it up is because I showed up to the Open with a black eye and cut lip. My girlfriend wasn’t the most proud at that moment. lol.) I have also fought at the famed Madison Square Garden in New York, Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, and I competed on HBO-PPV, ESPN2, Fox Sports, Showtime TV, Azteca America, major German TV ARD, and Canadian television as well. All the while I was pro I was running my own boxing gym along with my father and younger brother in Missouri for about 8 years. In 2013, after living in Osborn Missouri for almost 28 years, I closed down a successful boxing gym in Missouri to be the General Manager of LA Boxing in Winter Springs, Florida, later UFC Gym. After about 6-months I realized it wasn’t the right fit for me. So I resigned and traveled full time with my girlfriend for a couple of years who is a professional tennis player. I traveled the world helping her with some fitness and mostly emotional support. She reached her career high ranking in the two years we traveled together with victories over the likes of Venus Williams as well as a prime time match at the US Open on the biggest tennis court in the world, Arthur Ashe Stadium, where she lost in a three set match that lasted almost 2-and-half-hours.
During this time traveling with my wife, I was able to train in the gyms all over the world alongside greats like Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, and Maria Sharapova. Being able to run on a treadmill directly beside a guy like Novak was incredible to me because male tennis players have to be in great physical condition to go 5-plus hours to win a match. I learned so much from watching other greats in the tennis world, male and female. So, because of my wife’s tennis we decided to relocate to Lake Nona where the United States Tennis Association was building its headquarters. We decided to buy some land and build a house beside our good friend and now neighbor, Madison Keys. Since boxing was my passion and I was able to devote more of my time to boxing, I decided to start training some kids for fun in my neighborhood in 2019. And before I knew it, I grew an incredible amount of clients and without even realizing it I become the no. 1 personal training company in Orlando, Florida. I train ages 5-years old as well as over 60-year old clients who come to me to do boxing as a workout and to learn something new and fun. I have met with and trained NFL players, WWE wrestlers, basketball players, tennis players as well as doctors, nurses, construction workers, teachers, go-cart drivers, you name it and I have probably trained them. I’m going to end this here for now in case I answered questions that will be asked later. sorry for the carrying on, but I still left out a lot, but tried summarizing for the most part.
One of my biggest accomplishments though has been getting married to my long-time girlfriend in May of last year and welcoming our first baby in Nov. Isabella Alejandra Hartman.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh gosh, not even close. I mean from my house burning down three weeks before I was to compete in arguably my biggest amateur boxing tournament to when I got into a car accident one week before I was to compete in a pro boxing match on ESPN. I got into a car accident a week before I was set to fight on ESPN2 against Jermal Charlo as I was headed to the doctors to get my medical clearance to fly to Houston and box. In February of 2010, I was driving in snowy conditions and I came over a hill and a big 18-wheeler Bud light diesel was over turned in the highway blocking both lanes. I was the first car up and while I gently slowed down, the conditions were getting bad and the car behind me slammed into my rear end going about 65 mph. I had to pull out of the fight and I was out of boxing for two and half years with a neck injury. I ended up coming back to boxing after numerous different doctors told me to never box again, but it only took the advice of one doctor and two and half years of being depressed because I couldn’t never compete in a sport I had done from 6 years old to about 26 at the time of the accident. I came back to boxing and won my first couple of fights back, with two straight knockout wins. I then went on to fight some of the best fighters in the world, like Terence Crawford, Keith Thurman, Jesse Vargas, Chavez Jr., Paez Jr., Danny O’Connor. Not to mention, when Covid hit in 2020, every business got shut down for a bit. I was so scared I wouldn’t ever be able to start training people again, but thank God my clients knew how much of a clean freak I already was and because our Governor DeSantis, I was able to keep training people. Which, in my opinion, the whole world needs more exercise to naturally boost our immune systems to fight off many more of the millions of virus that are constantly circling us all daily.
Also, keeping up with the amount of business and all that it entails. Thank God my wife handles all my scheduling now. It is a struggle knowing when to grow and get bigger and at what time. I care about my work and my name, so it’s tough for me to expand right now. But I don’t have enough hours in the day to keep up with the amount of people who want to try my boxing program.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I believe anybody can hire a personal trainer. But what I think separates me is, I genuinely get to know my clients and I care about them. I don’t just work with anyone. I have prided myself on meeting clients first to see if we will work well together. The last thing I ever want is to be miserable working with someone. When I started my own company, Travis Hartman Boxing, I told my wife that I don’t want to work with just anyone. What I mean by that is, I want to work with people who want to work with me. Who respect what I do and what I say. I don’t do it for the money. I have passed up many opportunities that I just didn’t feel good about doing. I am extremely passionate about boxing, training and exercise that the last thing I want to do is hate going to work. I am a positive person and I can find the good in almost anyone. So I hope people don’t think I just pick and choose the best or most popular people. Far from it. I have trained kids with learning disabilities, kids being bullied, kids with autism, kids with hearing impairments, kids that just want to gain more confidence and learn a new sport. I believe boxing workouts are good for every single person, whether it is a stay at home parent who needs to blow of some healthy steam by punching something in the boxing, or an elite corporate higher up who need to take out the daily stresses that come with running a massive business, or the kid that is getting bullied at school; there isn’t a circumstance or a person that I believe boxing wouldn’t benefit. It’s a healthy outlet, teaches discipline, gains confidence, releases stress, and gets you physically healthier. It’s a win-win because I love helping people!! Also, before the pandemic hit I used to do an annual boxing charity even that benefited a not for profit Children’s cancer foundation back in my hometown of Osborn, Missouri. I did my first one in 2018, 2019 and set to do one in 2020 but Covid shut it down. I donated 100% of the profits back to the foundation and I believe we had donated over $25,000 up to that point to help kids with cancer through the Rose Lowenstein Children’s Cancer Foundation.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I think every time I stepped into the boxing ring I was risking my life. But because of all those years of stepping in the ring, I am able to now pass on my knowledge and what I learned in the ring to the rest of my clients so, if they don’t want to, they don’t have to take a single punch, only do the punching. 95% of the clients I train don’t ever want to compete, they just want to learn the technique and get the benefit of being a boxer, minus all the bumps and bruises!!
Contact Info:
- Email: travishartman@travishartmanboxing.com
- Website: www.travishartmanboxing.com
- Instagram: @realtravishartman
- Facebook: @teamhartmanboxing
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/travis-hartman-boxing-orlando
Image Credits
Irina Falconi Hartman
