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When unbeaten boxing prospect Gary van Staden fights, he doesn’t do it alone — he has his twin sister Jada, a national sprinter, in his corner. The 23-year-olds and Jada’s boyfriend, former South African heavyweight champion Keaton Gomes, who is Gary’s stablemate and friend, are a tight unit. “If one’s got a fight coming up, we all three are in it together,” said Jada, pronounced Jay-da. “It’s not like one person is sitting there and everyone’s having fun and you’re just like, ‘oh no, I can’t do this because I have a fight’.” Gary, a super-middleweight, takes on Nicolas Kasongo Nzengu in his next bout on the undercard of Kevin Lerena’s Knockout Chaos 2 tournament at the Galleria in Sandton on Saturday night. “Same, same, but different,” Jada replied when asked to describe their similarities and differences. “Gary’s more the happy, crazy, last-minute, plans nothing, forgets everything.”Gary said: “She’s got her ducks in a row better than I do. I think our sports give a good description of how similar but far apart we are. We’re both very disciplined.”She always used to win. She won [age-group] nationals like seven years in a row and then I always used to come like fourth, fifth, sixth. Then I went to boxing, started winning, and I was like, ‘oh, this is nice’.— Gary van Staden “And he’s dilly [because] he wants to get hit in the face,” quipped Jada, the older of the two. “By 43-seconds,” Gary pointed out. They’re competitive too. The two, born three months premature, have always excelled at sport, with Jada winning provincial selection across a few codes at school, from tennis to netball. Gary played rugby, turning out as scrumhalf, flyhalf and right wing and making a provincial team at under-13. “I was good, when we were all the same size, but then I got so small I got pummelled by the okes.”Before puberty, Jada dominated Gary and their brother Slayden, younger by two years. “Tennis, hockey, any sport there was, we used to lose to Jada. I used to hate it. I was a head shorter than my sister,” recalled Gary. Both did athletics, with Jada excelling in the 400m hurdles and Gary focusing on the 800m. “She always used to win. She won [age-group] nationals like seven years in a row and then I always used to come like fourth, fifth, sixth. Then I went to boxing, started winning, and I was like, ‘oh, this is nice’.”Gary reckoned Jada could have excelled in the ring. “She can box and she hits hard. Sometimes she walks past and hits me.”I was like ‘why is my brother doing this and why am I dating someone who’s doing this?’ It’s very stressful.— Jada van StadenJada turned to her brother with a laugh: “If I was a boy, I’d have taken your ‘0′ [handed him his first professional defeat].”Jada, who has run for South Africa at the World Relays, was forced to abandon hurdling because of a back injury, but she’s learning to pace the 400m. “It takes some getting used to because every time you change how you run,” said Jada, who spent a year at the University of Washington in Seattle in 2023. The twins are following in their attorney father’s footsteps, both studying law, and Gary and his father build cars together. “It keeps your mind off of things, especially in training camp. Your mind goes through scenarios you don’t want to think about.”Jada admitted it wasn’t easy watching Gary and Gomes, especially when they fought on the same bill in April. “I was like ‘why is my brother doing this and why am I dating someone who’s doing this?’ It’s very stressful,” said Jada. But she’ll be ringside on Saturday.
