Honours should go to heroes

THE New Year’s honours were handed out at the start of the week but where are the awards for the real heroes in this country?

The usual list of celebrities and politicians are set to get the royal treatment but it is people like Anna Cain and her fantastic team at The Boxing Academy who should be getting the thanks of the nation.

The Boxing Academy in Hackney, east London, takes troubled kids between the ages of 14 and 16 that are excluded from mainstream education, sometimes because of violent incidents.

Crime

Their mission is to offer high-quality alternative education to even the most hard to reach young people.

It is proving to be a success, with recent graduates earning places in colleges and apprenticeships rather than turning to a life of crime on the streets or getting involved in gangs.

The plan is not to make them professional boxers but use the discipline of the sport to show them there is a better path in life.

That is why I was happy to visit recently and meet the staff and pupils. We invited them to our December show at the Copper Box.

We all know the brilliant work of amateur clubs in deprived areas, but this is another way for boxing to give back to communities. You Interview by CHRIS McKENNA could take Hackney and find its equivalent in any city around the country so it would be fantastic to see more up and down the land.

The work Anna and her team are doing is fantastic and the government should get her on board to help develop this project nationwide.

It would certainly be better than just taking advice from MPs, some of whom seem more interested in their expenses than engaging with problem youngsters in our inner cities.

Anna is on the ground with the troubled youths and helping to save money in the long run by keeping these kids out of the courts and prisons.

Another example of the government failing to help is the case of England boxer Kelvin Fawaz who, despite living here for 14 years and fighting for the country, is facing a battle to stay in the UK.

Fawaz, who was born in Nigeria, was released from a detention centre this week.

But he faces a fight to stay while the government allows some people who have committed horrible crimes to remain.

He was a very talented amateur boxer, who I offered a professional contract to in 2014.

But he couldn’t sign it because of the Home Office. He should be allowed to stay.