Chris Morrow celebrates brotherhood of Hot Box Gym

By Rynhardt Kuhn
4th November 2025

Former Sharks Academy rugby player and combat sports trainer Chris Morrow has described the tight-knit brotherly bond at Hot Box Gym, where some of the finest boxing talent in the country is housed.

The 25-year-old combat sport enthusiast has spoken very fondly of the atmosphere of the Johannesburg gym and getting the chance to work with the likes of Phumelela Cafu, Chris Thompson, Jason Medi, David Champati, and the Kalengui brothers.

“I’ve worked up such a good relationship with the guys just by learning from one another, having each other’s backs, and not viewing someone like Jason Medi as my trainee or fighter, but rather as my brother,” Morrow told SABC Sport.

Having only taken up fighting in 2020, during a time when he was supposed to go to Whales to further his pro rugby career, Morrow instead decided to work tirelessly to become a pro-boxer in 2023 leading to his career taking a different turn.

“I started with MMA and Muay Thai training, went pro in boxing in 2023, but my career didn’t really take off like I wanted it to because I’ve had multiple concussions, and that’s obviously played a massive role in my well-being because I can’t get hit," he added.

“I know there is a space for me in boxing, like there is for everyone, but my role is to rather be on the outside of the ring, training the guys who are fighting inside the ring.”

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After fights not going his way, as well as several brain scans and MRI’s, he realised that he could read the game better from the outside of the ring, and has since taken that as a gift and blessing in disguise.

“I’m just as young as some of these guys, and yet they are like sponges when they’re working in the gym each and every single day," he noted.

When asked what it takes to pursue a professional career in boxing, this is what Morrow had to say.

“You have to adapt very quickly or get out, because that’s the fight game. If you’re an amateur and you know that you have that dog in you, and you see yourself holding a WBC belt one day, then you should study the fight game and come down to this gym and find out why it’s called Hot Box," he concluded.