SUCCESS STORY
In just three seasons the Lef t Hook amateur boxing club has made great strides
MATTHEW BURKE has regrets. He had a talent. He boxed for England as an amateur, alongside the likes of Ricky Hatton. His last amateur bout was against Darren Barker. As a professional he boxed both John Simpson and John Murray. But he ultimately did not fulfil his potential and discovered, the hard way, that in this sport there are no second chances.
“I know myself I let myself down massively as a pro. As an amateur I was committed dedicated, always in the gym,” he told Boxing News. “I was really focused.”
“I boxed for England six times. I was on the England squad in Russia, with Ricky Hatton, Nicky Cook, Tony Dodson, so it was a good team. I was mixing amongst that level. [Against] Barker I lost that on points but it was good,” he continued. “I just couldn’t pin him down. I was always a big puncher. When I won my second national title I had five fights to win it, I knocked out two of them, stopped two of them and the one I didn’t stop, I dropped.
“I had a reputation as a big puncher.”
Burke felt he could have achieved something as a professional. “When I went pro to be honest I was not dedicated,” Burke said. “I don’t know whether I’d burned out. I’d been boxing from the age of eight to 21 without any breaks really.”
“I was young and stupid,” he reflects. “I tell them how I threw it away and you won’t get another chance. You don’t get another chance. If you really want to do it, take it seriously. Because it does go quick.”
But that fuels him now as a coach. “It makes me more passionate, because I know. I’m still bitter 20 years later, and I will be probably till the day I die, that I threw away my chance,” Matthew said. “I do feel it makes you better as a coach.”
“I also know what it’s like when you’re committed, dedicated and you don’t stop winning. So all that comes across to them. I think they like knowing that I’ve done it and I’ve lost and I’ve come back from it,” he added. “And I do know what it’s like when you’re dedicated and you still can lose. You can have an off day. I’ve had all them experiences.
“When we’ve won medals, at the Golden Girls [tournament], when Gerry [Dinnegan] won gold in Sweden, whatever, it’s better than when I got my England vest. I was more happy than when I boxed for England.”
The Left Hook amateur boxing club he’s been running for three years has been getting results. The gym had four champions at December’s Women’s Winter Box Cup in Cristina Planas, Paulina Biernat, Colleen Roach and Marie Connan. Connan has come through the club to become a French international last year, boxing at the World championships in India.
“They were really strict on her,” Burke said. “She had to quit her job and everything to pursue her dream.
“We did believe if she kept attending the trials she would impress enough and she would take the number one spot, which she did. So that’s a massive achievement.”
Their prospects look bright for the upcoming year. “Our male team is coming on a lot stronger, we’ve got a lot of potential champions,” the coach noted. “We don’t ever put people in championships to make up numbers.”
The club provides a supportive environment. “All sorts of kids come to us with different problems, even adults as well,” Matthew said. “If we can help them, we help.
“We treat everyone the same, whoever wants to put the work in and learn. We’ve been lucky with the squad we’ve got, they’ve really bonded. We have that with the team, we’re like a family.”
“It’s a passion,” he added. “Apart from the success we’ve had in winning gold medals and making champions, and [making] an international team with Marie, it’s also about all these little kids that we train, we help them at school.”
The club is in Shadwell in London, an area with few other outlets for young people. The gym though is a community, with drawings by the children pasted up on the walls alongside fight posters. “They love it, we get messages from the parents saying how much they’ve changed at school,” Burke said. “We’re teaching these young boys respect.”
Recreational classes keep the gym running, effectively subsidising the amateur side. But currently they still have to rely on the generosity of sponsors to fund their boxers’ travel to events. “Hopefully by the end of this year, we can be a registered charity, it’ll make it a lot easier,” the trainer said. “With Christmas just gone I think we’re going to struggle. But we’ll figure out a way.”