Faith Meets Fight
Floyd Mayweather trains with Crystal Thomas at the Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas.
Crystal Thomas is guided by God
By Steve Stein
Crystal Thomas’ personal and professional journeys have been circuitous. Now that she looks back at them, she’s realized it was all God’s plan for her.
“It’s almost impossible for me not to see God’s hand over my journeys,” she said.
Born and raised in Warren, she moved to Las Vegas and Miami to pursue a dream to be a boxing trainer.
Shedding the glitter and glamor of Las Vegas and Miami, she points to Warren as the place where she was surrounded by her family and community, and where her work ethic, values, and faith were shaped.
Sports has always been a part of her life. She played basketball and volleyball at Center Line High School and basketball at Macomb Community College.
Then it was off to Wayne State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree and a masters degree in social work before embarking on what she thought was a career in social work.
“I was working at a middle school during COVID. I truly had no idea that my career path was about to change,” she said. It was in 2020 that Thomas discovered boxing— simply by putting mitts on for her best friend during workouts in a gym.
Suddenly, what began as a hobby and a way to work out became a fascination. So much so that she started working with people in the gym, constantly practicing. By early 2021, she was training clients professionally. Then came the moment “that completely changed the trajectory of my life,” she said.
During a vacation trip with her cousin to Las Vegas, they were eating at a restaurant when Floyd Mayweather walked in.
Yes, the Floyd Mayweather, the 15-time world champion boxer in five weight classes with a 50-0 career record, who many consider one of the greatest, if not the greatest, boxer of all time.
Thomas gathered up her courage, went over to Mayweather, introduced herself, and told him calmly that she’s a boxing trainer from Michigan. Mayweather, who was born in Grand Rapids, asked to see her work, so she pulled out her phone and showed him some videos.
One thing led to another, and she ended up moving to Las Vegas in 2023 to work for Mayweather Promotions.
“Growing up in the Chaldean culture, moving across the country on my own (especially for a career in boxing) was definitely outside the norm,” she said. “It took some convincing with my parents, but they understood how important the opportunity was for my career and ultimately supported me.”
Thomas said Las Vegas was like her boxing university.
The highlight, she said, was working with Mayweather himself during his preparation for an exhibition fight in Mexico City in 2024.
“After that chapter, I began feeling that God was leading me in another direction,” she said.
She began praying about it and soon realized she wanted to expand her expertise from professional boxers to recreational clients—normal folk “who simply wanted to learn boxing, get in shape, challenge themselves, and become better versions of themselves.”
She moved to Miami and became an Everlast coach. Everlast is a company deeply rooted in boxing equipment.
Thomas’ passion now, she said, is to find ways to bring faith into fitness. She started a faith-centered boxing class on the beach in Miami that combines boxing with a community centered around God and His word.
“My greatest goal now is not simply to become successful ... it’s to make sure that whatever success I have points back to the One who gave me the ability to do it in the first place,” she said.
“I genuinely believe every gift I have comes from God. I think about how can I use what God has given me to help someone else.
“When God has a plan for your life, it may not always look like the plan you created for yourself. Sometimes He will ask you to walk through a door before you fully understand why it’s opening. He may ask you to move, to let go of something comfortable, to take a chance, or to trust Him when you cannot see what comes next.”
For Thomas, the journey from Warren to Las Vegas to Miami has been about more than boxing. It has been about learning to trust God’s timing, embracing opportunities that once seemed out of reach, and discovering how her talents can serve a greater purpose.
Wherever her career takes her next, she hopes to keep faith at the center of it all, using boxing not only to strengthen bodies but also to build confidence, community, and a deeper connection with God.