A MAN who was kicked out of school at 16 for swearing at a teacher claims he now makes £45,000 a month and is a boxing champion.
Teshi Cheema, 22, from Leeds, was raised by his grandparents in nearby Micklefield after his mum died unexpectedly.
The entrepreneur said he was a disruptive and abusive towards his teachers at school.
He told LeedsLive: “I was always cracking jokes, being immature, being a nuisance, trying to p*** off of my teachers.
“Literally doing anything I could to not do any work, I would not do work.”
Matters came to a head when Teshi, then 16, was put in isolation by his head of year.
Teshi said: “I just didn’t agree with it and I started swearing at him.
“We got quite close to each other and it nearly was an altercation and teachers did come out.
“That was just the last straw and I got suspended.”
Teshi’s record of bad behaviour stopped him from attending the local sixth form, and he left school with a string of rock-bottom grades.
His life only turned around when he took up Thai boxing at university after watching fights on YouTube.
Teshi’s grandad Dilip drove him to training four days a week, patiently waiting in his car during the sessions.
Dilip never missed a fight – and was in the crowd for the recent title fight in Leeds where Teshi won the British Thai Boxing Belt.
Teshi has turned professional and manages 16 properties through his business House of Cheema – claiming he rakes in £45,000 a month.
He now makes more in a month than he did in a year at his previous job as a Morrisons worker.
The entrepreneur said he sometimes bumps into his old teachers – and is proud to tell them how he has turned his life around.
