When Alina Peach first met her nowhusband Isaac – the trainer behind New Zealand’s top-ranked boxers – it was the opposite of love at first sight.
She was in her early twenties and working at a boxing gym on Auckland’s North Shore, where Isaac trained with former Boxing New Zealand national coach Dr John McKay.
After enjoying the box fit classes, Alina then started training with John too, which meant she and Isaac would often have to run around the track together.
Recalls Alina, “He was the only professional boxer at the gym and he just seemed really arrogant. We hated each other at the start and I dreaded training with Isaac. We didn’t speak to each other for six months!
“Then one day, Isaac said to me, ‘Do you want to spar on Saturday?’ And I questioned why he suddenly wanted to help me with my boxing.
“But the
