‘Punisher’ battling away in 295kg survival fight
Being a Heavyweight Champ is a matter of life and death for Philip Pun Tele’a.
Lying in a hospital bed, his leg agonisingly swollen with cellulitis, the 295kg 30-year-old was given a stark warning.
Unless he turned his life around, Tele’a says a doctor told him, ‘‘the next time he’s gonna see me in there is down in the morgue’’.
Tele’a tried to take the caution with a toughness that earned him the gridiron nickname ‘‘The Big Punisher’’.
But as soon as the doctor left his room, ‘‘I just started breaking down and had a little prayer to God. I told Him, ‘Please help me’.’’
Hope came when Tele’a turned to David Letele, the corporate boxer-turned-health campaigner who has helped thousands lose weight and gain fitness through his Buttabean Motivation boot camps and online programmes.
Tele’a told Letele how badly he needed help, but feared the spotlight of a group situation. Letele replied: ‘‘No-one’s gonna judge you – See you at 6:30’’.
Turning up that same night, ‘‘David called out, ‘Phil’s here!’, and then everyone started clapping and welcomed me with open arms, and then I just joined in. It just made me wanna keep going there all the time’’.
That life-changing moment, in January, was a first step back to wellness for Tele’a. He is shedding kilos and regaining confidence.
It was also the beginning of the now 30-something strong Buttabean Heavyweight Champs – a twice-weekly free-of-charge boot camp in South Auckland, which has recently expanded to West Auckland.
‘‘It’s not just about physical fitness,’’ Letele says. ‘‘This journey is all about being mentally strong, because it hurts and it’s so easy to give up.’’ The progress of four members is being followed for an upcoming TV show.
Tele’a piled on the weight after This journey is all about being mentally strong. obesity campaigner lymphedema in his right leg forced him to leave his factory job and put paid to any plans to reignite his American football career.
A prop for Mt Albert Grammar’s 1st XIII, he started playing gridiron for the Metro Lions American Football Club while still at school. His physical presence, around 160kg and ‘‘pretty fit for a big guy’’, saw him making an impact in the offensive line.
He made the Auckland and then New Zealand junior sides before injuring his left knee, he says.
Then he was diagnosed with lymphedema – fluid retention and tissue swelling from a compromised lymphatic system. Infections have led to cellulitis, which has seen him being bedridden for up to a fortnight a time and spells in hospital.
Tele’a found part-time work as a doorman and DJ, which he enjoyed. But ‘‘fresh from the clubs, the first thing you want is just a fat feed. Straight to the takeaways about 3-4 in the morning’’.
He says he also turned to comfort eating after the deaths of his mother in 2013 and an elder brother the following year.
Tele’a told worried friends family that he was training and and dieting, but he couldn’t hide the truth from himself. ‘‘It was embarrassing going out – always being the biggest person in the room, just getting people staring.’’
But since joining the Heavyweight Champs his life has turned around.
‘‘I’m always out there with people now, meeting up with friends and going to the movies with family – rather than just being stuck at home and trying to lock myself away from this world.’’
Letele, who has 8000 ‘‘Buttabeaners’’ in his Buttabean Motivation Facebook group, runs the Heavyweight Champs boot camps free of charge. Funding comes from Counties Manukau Sport.
Support has also come from the Manukau Urban Maori Authority, and Letele has met government officials in New Zealand and Samoa about his public health campaigns.
He has retired his corporate boxing persona – the Brown Buttabean – with a record of 18 wins and 3 losses. ‘‘Now I just continue my fight against obesity.’’
Details of Letele’s boot camps, plus his fitness and nutrition plans app, can be found on buttabeanmotivation.co.nz