Gloves on as boxing club puts on a show
TALENTED up-andcoming fighters will get in the ring as Stockport College holds an amateur boxing show.
The event takes place at the college’s multipurpose sports hall on Friday from 7pm to 11pm.
Up to 16 bouts will take place featuring boxers from Stockport College Amateur Boxing Club, which has now been running for six years after being opened by former world champion Barry McGuigan.
Senior coach Trevor Bowden, who has organised the event, said: “There will be a welcoming atmosphere as there is at the club itself.
“To some people boxing is barbaric but there’s much more to it than that, it is a skill and an art.
“It also teaches discipline and gets youngsters involved in fitness. People should come along and see for themselves.
“We have beginners as well as guys who have been with us for three to five years and are reaching elite level. Boxers who are hoping to make a career out of it.”
The club has around 70 boxers including both sexes and ranging in age from 10 to 37.
Among its success stories are Luke Connor, 21, a featherweight from Heaviley, and Saqib Ali, 22, from Levenshulme, who is a light welterweight.
Both have had success at amateur level and have plans to turn professional.
Trevor, 52, is himself a former engineering apprentice at Stockport College, who went on to work for BAE Systems in Woodford.
He ran the BAE gym and when the site closed it was donated to the college along with Trevor as coach.
And after six years he says the club’s reputation is growing.
Trevor said: “The club has a good name. At the start people would laugh and not take us seriously because we were part of a college.
“But now we are getting much more respect and people are wary of our boxers.”
Tickets for the event are £10 (£6 for students, senior citizens and under 10s), call Trevor on 07751 114311. Bouts start at 8pm.