EDITOR’S LETTER
The plans for the residential home for ex-boxers is gathering momentum but we’re only at the start
Residential home for ex-boxers
AFORMER boxing champion stands on the streets of a city centre and waves at all who are nearby. Some stop and stare, most walk on, nobody waves back. The former boxing champion doesn’t understand why people do not recognise him. Why are people not waving back? Why are they not pleased to see me?
In his mind, on this day, the former boxing champion is still a boxing champion and he has a contest at the weekend. Surely all these people know that? He’ll show them. He moves his hands into a fighting pose, he shuffles his feet and fires punches into the air. Then he lurches forward as his legs fail to cope with what his brain is telling them to do. He instinctively grabs a railing to stop himself falling face-first on to the concrete.
A bottle falls from his pocket and smashes in front of him. As he tries to drag his scuffed knees off the tiles he sees his reflection in a café window. He sees an old and broken man looking back at him. He remembers he’s no longer a boxing champion.
He doesn’t know where he is or how he got there. Tears suddenly stream down his face. And some people stop and stare, but most walk on by. Nobody acknowledges him.
This is a true story. Out of respect for the former champion’s reputation his name need not be mentioned. What must be addressed though is the growing number of hopeless futures faced by too many former boxers.
Some are damaged by the sport they dedicated their lives to, others have been careless with their money and now they have nothing left. Some are alcoholics or substance abusers, some are just painfully lonely with nowhere to go or anyone to talk to. Too many need help. Nearly all are too proud to ask.
Dave Harris, a former boxer and promoter, set up the British Ex-boxers Hall of Fame and during that process he was exposed to many former fighters who have fallen on hard times. He came up with the idea of a residential home for ex-boxers, Ringside Rest and Care, which has been reported on these pages before. An idea that is making strides towards becoming a reality.
Harris needs to raise £100,000 to prove to three significant investors that the project can sustain itself. Already, at the Hastings Ex-boxers meeting in January, former amateur Martin Hooker, now 69, completed 10-threeminute rounds of shadow boxing and raised over £1,200 in the process. Many other fund-raising projects have been confirmed for later in the year. Marathons are going to be run, mountains are going to be climbed. Several professional boxers will sky dive for three miles in front of the BBC.
Harris and his team have sent letters to all 1,079 boxing clubs in the country to tell them about his project. Promoters and professional boxers have been contacted. Anthony Joshua, the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion and one of the most marketable boxers in the world, has agreed to wear the Ringside Rest and Care logo on his shorts during his next fight. There is a Facebook page where progress can be reported. As Dave himself said, “The snowball is starting to roll.
“By organising a sponsored walk, run, skip, rounds, or anything you can think of, or simply just by making a donation, you can help to make Ringside Rest and Care a reality.”
That reality will need the entire industry’s help to get to where it needs to go. The fans’ help too. There is a sponsorship page printed on page 47 that allows you to get involved. Join the likes of Joshua, John Conteh, Duke Mckenzie, Ken Buchanan, James Cook and Scott Welch, who have all pledged their support.
Dave Harris’ vision of round the clock care for residents, with day visitors coming in to mingle with fellow former fighters, with a cinema screen for boxers to watch their old fights, and an environment where they can live out their days without fear or confusion is an altogether brighter vision than the dire reality described atop this page.
Let’s all be part of the change.