Toby Leonard: The Model of a Modern Man

Kelly King
4 min readAug 25, 2020

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You can’t be all things to all people. Authenticity resonates profoundly. The key to success for model Toby Leonard confirms that self-awareness can translate into its own type of diversity; for Mr. Leonard, the result of this has been international acclaim and notoriety. His sculpted frame and piercing looks have positioned him to grace pages of the iconic GQ magazine, placed him in campaigns next to international stars like Justin Timberlake, and made him one of the faces of UK’s BOXRAW clothing. The simplest explanation for this is Toby’s undeniable charisma; it’s a quality which is evident in his visage upon first glance. But there’s more to the appeal of this UK model than this inherent trait. Like the leaders of the industry before him, Leonard is able to connect and create a relationship through the lens. It’s likely that the British born talent has become so attractive to clothing lines and fashion magazines for the same reason that a company like BOXRAW gravitated towards him, there’s a profound nonverbal communication that he knows himself and aspires to push beyond his own limits on a daily basis. No matter what vocation you’re involved in, this is a formula for greatness; one clearly evident in Toby Leonard’s career.

The contention of BOXRAW founder Ben Amanna is that boxing transcends the use of one’s fists for sport fighting to become in fact, “the way in which a person lives.” In addition to clothing lines like “Dempsey”, inspired by former Heavyweight Champion Jack Dempsey, BOXRAW has become the preferred workout line for three-weight-world-champion/ESPN’s #1 ranked pound-for-pound World’s Best Active Boxer Vasily Lomachenko, World Champion in two weight classes Billy Joe Saunders, and others. BOXRAW maintains their popularity within the industry and outside it due to a strict adherence to brutal truth in advertising. Aesthetic appeal alone is simply not accepted by the company or its fans, making Toby Leonard something of a unicorn in this regard. He’s certainly handsome enough to appeal to the world’ leading fashion publications yet his enthusiasm and commitment to boxing made him a welcome addition to the BOXRAW brand. Consumers mostly investigate companies and products via the ease of social media these days. Toby has become a mainstay of BOXRAW’s Instagram and Facebook in addition to the company’s website, most notably in the Summer 2019 and Summer 2020 campaigns.

Of course, a substantial component of the recurrence of Mr. Leonard’s image in various settings is the congruence of his uniqueness and malleability. He has appeared in the pages of GQ magazine for this leading men’s fashion publication in Germany, Brazil, and Russia. Donned in designs that range from Adidas to Christian Dior, Toby’s universal appeal is not restricted by brand borders or cultural ones. While he’s also appeared in such famed publications as Vogue Homme, 1883, Essential Homme, At Large, and others, he’s often associated with his William Rast campaign. Created by famed musician Justin Timberlake, the William Rast brand is most well-known for their premium denim. Toby appeared with Justin Timberlake in the 2016 multimedia campaign which featured the brand’s signature denim. The campaign was preceded by Toby’s work for the multibillion dollar luxury gym chain Equinox which featured him on billboards across America, Canada, and the UK. Standing next to music superstars, a wife and babies, or in midstride as he hits the speed bag, Toby Leonard conveys that sense of who we want a modern man to be. Like so many things in life, it’s hard to define until you see it with your own eyes, which in this case is ideally presented in the genuineness of Toby Leonard.

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Kelly King

An LA based writer with more than a decade as a staff writer for NYC based Drumhead magazine, Kelly is also a contributor to a number of outlets.