Lynn AC Boxing Club reopens after £10,000 donation from Eddie Hearn
A common misconception is that boxing is sufficiently funded across the board.
This narrative has emerged largely due to pay-per-view shows staged in Las Vegas and, more recently, Saudi Arabia.
Tyson Fury, for instance, has lined up a lucrative showdown against fellow undefeated champion Oleksandr Usyk which, following his glorified exhibition with debutant Francis Ngannou, is a fight that will, once again, be in association with Riyadh Season – an entertainment and sports initiative in Saudi Arabia.
While this is good news for fans, it is not representative of the sport as a whole and, more importantly, the frugal funding that is put aside for amateur boxing.
Every sport relies on the development of talented athletes at a grassroots level, and boxing is no exception. However, after faltering under the pressure to meet England Boxing’s minimum standards for safety, several amateur boxing clubs have been forced to close their doors.
England’s oldest continuing amateur boxing club, the Lynn AC, was faced with this daunting reality in July. But, following a £10,000 donation from Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, the Camberwell-based club was able to reopen on Thursday last week.
Hearn said: “There’s no council, no government and no Mayor of London’s office here tonight; it baffles me really. I would have paid that amount of money to bring them down here.
“These places are like homes, they’re like families, but people in power don’t see it because they don’t mix in areas like this.”
In 2017, Sport England and Sheffield Hallam University reported that around 38% of amateur boxing gyms were located in 20% of the most deprived areas in England, with supporting data gathered from the 2015 Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) decile.
Since then, the fight for amateur clubs to remain open has become a torrid, gruelling affair, representing a major concern for the struggling communities where they exist.
“[The coaches] are the most fascinating people really,” Hearn added. “Could you imagine giving up 4-5 hours of your time for free? They are heroes in the community, and we owe it to them to stay open.”
Any high-profile boxer would have, more than likely, began their journey at an amateur boxing club. Many will attest that the mentorship they received from coaches was instrumental to their development, both inside and outside of the ring.
IBF world flyweight champion Sunny Edwards said: “I used to train [at the Lynn], and there are loads of fighters I met in this gym who are now some of the star names in British boxing.
“This is where the youth can get a positive impact on their lives. In my childhood, boxing was the best part of my week. Here is a safe place for children who come from much tougher backgrounds than I even did.”
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published a research briefing in August, outlining that, within a three year window, £30 million would be invested into 4,500 public tennis courts in need of refurbishment.
There is something to be said for the fact that, in 2017, just 3% of tennis courts were located in 20% of the most deprived areas. This would not usually matter, but considering that the DCMS’s grassroots multi-sport facilities programme is designed to improve clubs in deprived areas, it is difficult to understand why boxing is unable to receive a similar, or at least partially comparable form of investment.
DAZN commentator Mike Costello, a former boxer and coach at the Lynn, said: “We’re talking 24-36 hours after a horrible story coming out of Croydon, about a 15 year old girl who was stabbed to death.
“I’m not saying that [boxing gyms] are the only answer, but they’re a big part of the solution.”
In order to remain open, and continue supporting the younger generation, amateur clubs are expected to source their own funding. England Boxing encourages clubs to submit a “strong, well written funding application” to Sport England’s Small Grants Programme, which offers rewards between £300 and £15,000.
This can lead to rejections of applications that fail to meet the expected requirements and, considering that this responsibility is taken away from tennis courts by the Lawn Tennis Association, it could be said that the application process, for amateur boxing clubs, places a significant barrier in the way of access to sufficient funding.
“I had a choice of boxing clubs to go to; I had a choice of youth clubs to go to,” Costello added. “I understand that there are restraints on local authorities in terms of what they can spend money on, but this is about investing in the future.
“[Eddie’s donation] might encourage, or even embarrass, local authorities all over the country.”
