FINCHLEY FOCUS
Sean Murphy discusses life outside England Boxing
FINCHLEY ABC is one of the most well-established boxing clubs in England, not least because it produced Anthony Joshua, until recently the unified world heavyweight champion and still one of the most famous boxers in the world today. Finchley was one of the major clubs that left England Boxing to form the Amateur Boxing Alliance. That breakaway means that their boxers currently cannot compete in the England Boxing national championships, box for GB or compete in Olympic boxing.
But Finchley have been holding shows with other Alliance clubs and travelling abroad for bouts. “We’re very busy,” head coach Sean Murphy explains. “We’re doing alright.”
“The kids are in the club because I get them out, I get them boxing,” he continued. “I’ve had nearly 280 bouts this season with the kids so it’s a lot of fights.”
Through a link with the WBC Amateurs programme, he’s taken teams to Mexico and Spain. “The Mexicans are very strong,” he said. “It was a very good experience. We’re boxing at 3,000 feet at altitude… They all performed really well. The second day they held their own.
“We beat [Spain] 5-3 over here and then they beat us 5-3 over there.”
He points to Frankie Storey as one of the boxers to watch at the club. “He’s a 56kgs, featherweight. Very sharp hands, very lively for his weight,” Murphy said. “I’ve got a couple of good 13, 14 year olds. It has opened more doors boxing for the WBC now, because we’re members with them and there’s a lot more countries we can go to.”
But he would still like to see the rift between England Boxing and the Alliance heal. “It’s a shame about the split that’s come about with AIBA and Alliance boxing, if at all at any point it would be nice if we could compete against AIBA boxing clubs,” he said. “I think it would be better for boxing in England as a whole if we could be one thing all together. It isn’t good really having different amateur organisations because you’re just pulling against each other. We should be all working together as one.”
When the London ABA formed the Alliance, Finchley went with them. “They’re very experienced people and I went with them. I was supporting my region because they were our leaders in London. So rather than break away and go against them, I stayed with them,” Murphy said. “I think there were a lot of things at the time [that were problems], AIBA were dictating to everyone in England.
“I lost 11 of my boxers and they were all my better boys. Since they’ve all left, four of them are back in the gym but two of them are professionals now.”
But he notes, “We are amateur clubs. We’re not doing it for money. We’re doing it for the love of the sport. I’m still enjoying the boxing. If I weren’t getting my boxers out then I would seriously have to think about coming back to England Boxing. I’d like to be all as one again. I think it would be better for the sport to be all as one.”
‘WE’RE NOT IN IT FOR THE MONEY. WE’RE DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF THE SPORT’