A FORMER boxing professional from Odiham has spoken about his success on social media after amassing a following of almost 400,000 people across his channels.

Matt Goddard, 32, had grown up in Australia, living a very active life, participating in lots of activities and sports.

He said: "When it's sunny 99 days out of 100, it makes you want to go outside, and that's what I did.

"I loved the outdoors and I loved being active, so that was something I wanted to continue when we moved back to England."

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Coming back to England for family reasons, Matt, aged just 11 at the time, was taken by his dad to Basingstoke Boxing Club. After just three or four sessions he was taken under the wing of well-known boxing coach Trevor Francis.

Trevor is the father of Dean Francis, who was a British professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. Dean sadly died in 2018.

Under the expert tutelage of Trevor, upon turning 18, Matt went professional and won his first seven fights and the future looked bright.

Sadly Matt's career was cut short, due to a genetic malformation in his eyes that damaged the tissue beyond surgical repair.

Basingstoke Gazette: Matt fought and won all seven of his fights, but was forced to hang up his gloves following a genetic eye issueMatt fought and won all seven of his fights, but was forced to hang up his gloves following a genetic eye issue (Image: Matt Goddard, Canva)

Matt went to see a specialist who told him that a genetic problem had caused his eyes to form with unhealthy tissue in them, and that repeated trauma from boxing would inevitably cost him his vision, probably sooner than later.

Faced with a really tough choice, Matt hung up the gloves, but that didn't dampen his spirit.

He started his own gym in Odiham in 2015 and set up channels on social media, although initially, his pages didn't do too well, BUT A chance meeting with Chimodu, a famous photographer best known for photographing famous American rappers Tupac Shakur, and The Notorious B.I.G, changed this.

Matt said: "It was quite simple really, I asked Chimodu for a few tips and a bit of help and it worked a treat. Beforehand I had too much content and was trying to cover too many topics, which in an effort to please everyone, was pleasing no one.

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Basingstoke Gazette: Matt owns a gym in HookMatt owns a gym in Hook (Image: Matt Goddard, Canva)

"I stripped my pages right back, cutting out lots of content, and making my priority fitness and boxing. I went from about 1,700 followers in August 2018 to nearly 330,000 on Instagram and 50,000 on TikTok in 2023.

"It's absolutely amazing to think how far the channel has come in a matter of years, but I'm really enjoying posting videos and tips to help people enjoy and gain experience in their fitness and boxing."

More information on Matt can be found at tbltrainingplans.com/, on TikTok at tiktok.com/@theboxinglocker or on Instagram at instagram.com/theboxinglocker.