For an eight-year-old Amir Khan, it was a boxing trainer called Tommy Battel. For some of the thousands of kids passing through his gym in Bolton, northern England, it will be Khan. And, for those attending any of the projects under the umbrella of StreetGames — a UK national charity hoping to popularize “doorstep sport” for which Khan is an ambassador — it could be any one of thousands of young volunteers.
Amid a fierce ongoing debate about whether the British government can deliver on the bold legacy promises made to secure the London Olympics in 2005, Khan believes that it is people rather than policies that will inspire kids to take up sport.
“I was very hyperactive when I was a kid,” the 25-year-old said at the Gloves community center. “Just misbehaving at school like most kids, and I would probably be 10 times worse at home. Dad took me to a gym round the corner from where we lived, where I met the trainer [Battel]. It was all about diverting my energy into something positive. I was only eight and I never looked back. It felt like home when I walked into the gym.”
Photo: AFP
Khan’s gym sits on the outskirts of Bolton town center next to an Aldi. It’s a long way from the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas where Khan will face Lamont Peterson on May 19 in a rematch granted following a contentious defeat last year.
Despite the impressive array of memorabilia on display including signed bats from the Pakistan cricket team and mementos from Khan’s biggest fights, it is far from glossy and hums with purpose.
Khan, who won Olympic silver in Athens at 17 in 2004 and turned professional in 2008, put down £1.1 million (US$1.74 million) to set up the gym nearly four years ago. He continues to fund it from his own pocket and says that more than 200,000 kids have been through its doors.
Aspiring boxers pay £1 to train, while classes pass through as part of their school physical education curriculum, and a homework club gives them somewhere to work.
“It’s all about keeping the kids off the streets and giving them a bit of discipline. If I hadn’t gone towards boxing, I might have been one of those kids getting into trouble. A lot of my friends did,” he says.
Khan has signed up as an ambassador for StreetGames, which is funded by National Lottery money and corporate backers, including Coca-Cola, and hopes to expand from 250 “doorstep sports clubs” to more than 1,000 affiliated schemes within the next four years.
An engaging mix of shyness and cocky confidence as he picks over chicken and chips in the office above the gym, Khan is convinced that schemes such as StreetGames are the answer. Diffident outside it, he comes alive in the ring as he jokes with a group of StreetGames teenagers and leads them through a series of shadow-boxing exercises.
With British boxing’s reputation in the gutter and the debate over its future renewed by the brawl between heavyweights Dereck Chisora and David Haye in Munich, Germany, last month that ended with the former threatening to shoot the latter amid chaotic scenes, Khan is keen to talk up the positive aspects of the sport.
Boxing is back on the English school national curriculum and, with women’s boxing admitted to the Olympics in London for the first time, he fears it is in danger of being overshadowed by the fallout from the Munich incident.
“Even though you think boxing is a contact sport, it teaches you not to fight on the street, to behave,” Khan says. “It gives you discipline and self-control. I want people to follow in my footsteps, with my gym.”
“In deprived areas, kids can’t afford to go to health clubs or expensive gyms,” he says — and in his shiny red tracksuit and box-fresh Nikes, he would still not look out of place among them. “I’m honored that they’ve chosen my gym to come to.”
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