Guyana's Sexy Gladiator

Meet the ‘Sexy Panther’ Corinne Van Rick De Groot

By Best of D Best

When the first bell in the S and S Promotions in collaboration with Holland Entertainment Promotions (HEP)/Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) sanctioned Caribbean Fury sounds next Saturday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH), Guyana’s Shaundell Alfred will face Canada’s Corinne De Groot in the feature bout for the Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) bantamweight title.

But the question that may be lingering on the minds of many boxing fans maybe, ‘Who is Corinne Van Rick De Groot, also known as the ‘Sexy Panther’?’

Born on the 5th June 1969 in Canada to Guyana’s very own Aubrey and Laureen Van Rick De Groot, it is already a known fact that she is of Guyanese descent, but what some may not know, is De Groot is also the newest member on the NBC’s hit show "American Gladiators", where she is the sexy, powerful and agile Panther.

She also boasts an unblemished 11-0 record in the square circle as a professional boxer, with seven of her victories coming by way of knockout, as she climbed her way to the number two spot in the WIBA bantamweight (118lbs) division.

De Groot also had the opportunity of gracing the silver screen with her eccentric presence, appearing in films such as, "The Guardian" opposite Kevin Costner and Aston Kutcher, while she co-starred with Billy Zane in, "Bet your life".

Several other television series has seen her acting skills, with The Middle Man, ABC's "LOST", NBC's "HEROES", CBS's "Ghost Whispers" and Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) NY being a few, while she was the winner of the NBC’s/Joel Silver award for her performance in ‘The Next Action Star’.

But that’s just her acting ability which many boxing fans and even some pundits are unaware of, and what may be as a surprise to many, is the fact that she is a celebrity trainer whose clientele includes Damon Wayans, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopez, Richard Gladstein and Ali Larter of NBC's hit "HEROES" to name a few.

Prior to entering the entertainment arena, De Groot was a police officer in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and holds a degree in Criminology and English from Carleton University..

De Groot began her boxing career in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1998 under the tutelage of veteran trainer Ronnie Shields and her first training camp was full of future world champions.

"My very first training camp was an incredible experience. Lou Duva had all of his fighters in West Palm Beach, Florida and I was able to watch and learn from Fernando Vargas, Zab Judah, Hassim Rackman, Robbie Peden and Andrew Gollata, just to name a few" she said via her website www.sexypanther.com

She had the privilege of fighting on three incredible fight cards in her short career so far, with the first being at the world renowned MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on the under card of the Mike Tyson/ Francis Botha bout.

De Groot was also presented with opportunity to fight in Mississippi on the Mike Tyson/ Lennox Lewis under card, and Roy Jones Jr. also allowed her to fight on his under card in Miami in the same arena where the Miami Heat plays their basketball..

"This venue was my favorite because I fought the world champion Kelsey Jeffries and beat the brakes off of her in front of a huge crowd. She was talking a lot of smack prior to the fight, so to give her a beat down was incredibly satisfying for me" the tenacious fighter said.

She turned pro on 25th July 1998 at the Sons of Italy Lodge in Lake Worth Florida and won a four round unanimous decision over Lisa Cuevas of Orlando, Florida in the junior welter weight division, and has defeated several world champions including, Jojo Wyman, Brenda Vickers and Jeffries and plans to add Alfred to that list, when they meet for the WIBA world title next Saturday.

As a trainer, De Groot has a very rigid schedule which commences from as early as 0430h in the morning, as she has three sessions per day.

“The very best part of my day is working out. I really enjoy training my clients in a dynamic environment. To achieve this I incorporate some of my personal extreme training into their workout sessions,” she said on her website.

“Every morning I am up between 4:30-5:00am doing my road work. This is usually when I do my distance training and I cover anywhere between three and eight miles, with my favorite places being Stone Mountain in Atlanta, Georgia, Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California or on the beach down by the Marina also in California. “

“After I run I usually head home get a meal in and take a two hour nap and then its off to the gym where the very best part of my day starts and that is working out. I really enjoy training my clients in a dynamic environment and to achieve this, I incorporate some of my personal extreme training into their workout sessions,” cited the Canadian/Guyanese.

“My second training session of the day is a boxing workout. I train at LB4LB Boxing Gym in Los Angeles, with my trainer Terry Claybon. I usually do between thirteen and twenty rounds depending on where I am in relation to a competition. The rounds are usually split between shadow boxing, heavy bag work, the double end bag, focus mitts and the speed bag,” she said.

Her last training session of the day is between 6pm and 8pm, when she trains in Atlanta with John Lewis who is one of her close friends with whom she has trained with well over 10 years now and thinks he is the best speed and agility coach in the world.

“He has trained me for all of my fights and for life in general,” she said of Lewis who is the brother of National Football League (NFL) star Jamal Lewis who plays for the Baltimore Ravens.

Every day, De Groot and her coach take the field with a mixed bunch of athletes ranging from Takeo Spikes, Carlos Edmonds, Tracey Edwards, Jarvis Hayes, and recently the late Vernon Forrest before his death, just to name a few.

Johns' workouts change daily and according to De Groot, in 10 years she has never been bored as one day they do sprint training, ply metrics or sand drills and another day they enter the pool with a full sweat suit on or in the mountains with a weight vest.

American Gladiator

“The latest achievement of my career is to be one of the newest members of the American Gladiators, where they call me "Panther”.

It was a physically and mentally grueling audition process and I must say that the road to becoming an American Gladiator is not for the faint of heart, but in the end it felt amazing to be standing on stage in full costume with all of the other Gladiators taking press pictures for NBC on the final day of eliminations.

“It was exhilarating to be alongside Gina Carano and Erin Toughill, two other very accomplished female athletes. It is very rare to be on the same team and competing with rather than against other female fighters of such stature. It was almost surreal to me. Not to mention we have Laila Ali as one of the hosts of our show. Amazing!!!” said De Groot

She continued to state on her website, “Competing in front of a live audience every night was nerve racking and such an adrenalin rush. It felt incredible and very familiar. In some ways, it felt like being in the ring on a fight card and it is a blessing to be in the ring on a fight card. It was a blessing to be able to compete with and against such great athletes.”

“My favorite events are Powerball and the Pyramid. These events are hard hitting and come down to raw speed, agility and power. They test you on every level. Nothing feels better than to run down a competitor with a flying tackle or send someone sailing off of the pyramid to the bottom mat. My teammates Crush and Venom have this down to a work of art.”

“I have to congratulate all of the competitors on the American Gladiators. They all gave their hearts and souls during the different events and it was an honor to watch and compete against them,” De Groot said.



So can it get any better than this for De Groot? Yes it did, as she had the distinct opportunity of meeting her childhood hero Hulk Hogan.

“I don't know about anyone else, but every Friday and Saturday of my childhood was spent watching the Hulkster!!! I am a through and through Hulkamaniac, so, to have the opportunity to finally meet and work with Hulk Hogan was incredible.. He is kind, spiritually grounded and just a blessing to know.”

Next season the gifted Guyanese descendant will once again be on show and she plans to promote Guyana as much as possible, but taking care of Alfred right here in the birthplace of her parents next Saturday, is the next thing on her mind.