Logan Holler is a fast-rising star on the local pro boxing scene (+video)

Dominic Robinson-Neal has trained his share of aspiring boxers. A former professional himself, he understands how to quickly pinpoint the traits that determine whether a student is worth his time.

Those who begin boxing later in life, typically, have a harder adjustment into the sport. They have not undergone the adversity necessary to succeed in the ring as they mature, he said, and generally struggle.

“I’ve had a lot of people come in starting off the same way she started off, but they don’t last,” he said. “They realize quickly it was not for them.”

Logan Holler is not one of those students. The 23-year-old, former South Carolina equestrian standout established early on she would not be one to wilt at the first sign of trouble.

“She still has some years left to perform athletically, and with her athletic ability and her genes, she might be able to win a championship,” said Humpy Wheeler, a member of the Carolinas Boxing Hall of Fame. “I just saw something in her that I was pretty neat.”

Holler had gone to see Wheeler, a good friend and former USC football teammate of her father, Ed Holler, about the next step in her athletics career. A soccer standout in high school and ex-Gamecock rider, she was in search of an avenue that would help release some of the emotions she might not otherwise have been able to on the farm.

“I needed a little more aggression in my life,” she said. “An outlet to get that aggression out.”

So she found her way to boxing and Robinson-Neal. A crash course was in order, judging by her knowledge of the sport.

“I would probably say I knew what my parents knew, or what most people think about it,” she said. “They think of the blood and the ‘Rocky’ version of boxing. So, when you tell people you’re doing it, they’re like, ‘Oh no, I don’t want your face to get bashed in’ and all that stuff. It’s not always like that.”

Robinson-Neal put her through the ringer with her workouts, as she sparred with significantly more talented boxers and worked on fundamentals at her most exhausting points. It would be the first test on her path to the sport’s most elite levels.

“Boxing is a very emotional sport,” Robinson-Neal said. “So at first, I was real hard on her. In this sport, you’ve got to have tough skin. I was getting her prepared for the things she was going to go through. It’s going to be hard at times.”

Holler responded. She lost weight and gained muscle, all while becoming technically sound with her gloves on. Her history as an athlete, and the genes of her father – a former linebacker for the Packers and Steelers – made the learning curve shorter.

“Being on the equestrian team, being an athlete and having to train, go to practice, go to meetings and go to weight room, helps the boxing side of it with the discipline and perseverance,” she said.

The only problem was Holler had no opponents. She waited around for nearly a year, Robinson-Neal said, before the two decided to make the jump to the professional ranks. It would be easier to fight on a more consistent basis, they thought.

With no amateur experience to her name, it would be easy to assume she has struggled in her transition. But it has been anything but, as she won each of her first three bouts – one by knockout – including a fight in Charlotte in January.

“Certain people can do it. She’s just one of them,” Robinson-Neal said. “ … I’ve been really impressed with her. She listens and she stays in tremendous condition. Her conditioning, that’s the edge she has on people on her level.”

She hopes to continue her steady ascension up the professional ladder, which already has her ranked No. 8 in the United States heavyweight division by BoxRec.com.

“I would love to win a title one day, one of the belts,” she said. “I would love if I could do it full-time, I would absolutely love it.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2015 at 9:36 PM with the headline "Logan Holler is a fast-rising star on the local pro boxing scene (+video)."