Kellie Blizard
He’s humble, softly spoken and yet fiercely strong when it comes to training winners. In fact, Lolo Heimuli has produced more than 100 national and 10 world champions, earning the title of Trainer of Champions around the globe.
From modest gyms in Auckland, while raising others to top-tier success, he’s kept his own feet firmly on the ground. None of the glitter of those titles, Lolo insists, would have been possible without the woman in his corner for the past 35 years – his wife Leinata.
The sacrifices that built a legacy
After years of building the business through financial hardship, the couple’s two adult sons are now central to the gym’s continuing success.
“When we were getting started, we didn’t make any money,” says Lolo.
“It was Leinata who kept us going, doing her thing behind the scenes.”
During the day, Leinata ran the café in the iconic Smith and Caughey’s department store. By night, after training wrapped up at the gym – in an old school room behind a central Auckland church – she cooked meals for the fighters, who often stayed over. They became like family to the Heimulis.
“Leinata made sure everything was good at home, which gave me the peace of mind to go after my dream,” says Lolo, 65.
Building a community beyond the ring
Many of their champions echo the same gratitude.
“All of our fighters talk passionately about how the gym changed their lives – they say they would have ended up in jail or something worse,” says Lolo.
The couple – soon to feature in the Sky Sport documentary Lolo: The Champion Maker – now focus less on creating champions and more about “making good humans”.
More than 200 people pass through the Balmoral Lee Gar gym each day, building their own multicultural community around boxing and martial arts. But it’s the kids who now command most of Lolo’s energy, who teaches them life skills alongside self-defence.
“I’ve learned more in 12 months coaching kids than I did in 40 years as a professional coach,” he admits.
“My patience has to be 10 times better!”
From Tonga to the world stage
Growing up in Tonga, sport never fully captured Lolo until he moved to Auckland at age 14. He then became a top kickboxer – nicknamed “The Smiling Assassin” – and competed overseas. He met Leinata in Tonga in 1989 and the following year, when they married, she watched his final fight, relieved when he stepped out of the ring for good.
By then, Lolo had set up his first gym, which he found after visiting a church to pray for help finding a space to train. As he walked out, he bumped into a friend, a caretaker, who showed him an abandoned schoolroom cluttered with old furniture. From there, the home of champions was born.
“It was a humble beginning – just a place for me to train with friends and family,” says Lolo.
“I had no vision, no big dream, and I had no idea that 20 years later, our guys would rule the fighting world.”
Training legends
Among the superstars he trained were Muay Thai world champions Ray Sefo and Jason Suttie, UFC legend Mark Hunt and Eugene Bareman, now a world-renowned martial arts coach himself. Lolo admits he sometimes put the fighters first and family second, even after he and Leinata finally welcomed the children they had longed for.
“I gave up believing we’d ever have a family, but Lolo never gave up,” Leinata, 57, says.
Her eventual pregnancy came as a surprise as they’d been trying unsuccessfully for 14 years to have a baby. During an exhausting workout, Leinata recalls beginning to feel unwell, but Lolo urged her to push through. Later at home and still feeling sick, Leinata realised she’d been missing her periods.
“I bought a pregnancy test and it was positive,” Lolo shares.
“So I went and got four more!”
Passing the gloves to the next generation
Their first son, Lolo Junior, arrived after a complicated labour, where he almost died. Early health troubles meant he couldn’t walk steadily until he was four, but he insisted on following his father into the gym, training every day and growing stronger. Now 20, Lolo Junior is a four-times Golden Gloves national boxing champion.
Their younger son Rodney, 18, has also stepped into the family business, helping to run the gym, managing fighters and promoting shows. Though Lolo has been offered coaching roles overseas, and received international honours and lifetime achievement awards, one recognition means more than the rest: a plaque from the New Zealand Police for his commitment to their youth kickboxing programme.
“It’s nice to be recognised for something we both enjoy doing anyway,” Lolo says.
For the Heimulis, fighting is no longer the ultimate goal.
“It’s not about titles now,” enthuses Lolo. “It’s about helping kids become better human beings.”
Lolo: The Champion Maker screens Monday, September 22 at 7.30pm on Sky Sport 1 and streams on Neon from Tuesday, September 23.
