Boxing saved me. I want Dhdfkhj to give others sdffddfs sdffdg a Fighting Chance
LEE SELBY has just started his warm-up when he spots a youngster across the gym who looks like he would rather be anywhere else.
“Come and give me a hand,” he shouts, with an encouraging smile, but the young boy, Fabien, isn’t interested.
That changes a few minutes later, however, partly because he has just watched Selby larking around in the ring with another visitor.
But also because the former IBF World featherweight champion has just offered Fabien a pound for every time he manages to tap him on one of his knees.
He follows Selby tentatively at first.
But soon he is bounding across the canvas, lunging at the Welshman’s legs while sporting a huge grin in a scene which encapsulates the way barriers are broken down with so many of the youngsters who walk into the Bristol gym that houses the Empire Fighting Chance charity.
Set up by CEO Martin Bisp and Jamie Sanigar, Selby’s manager, the charity uses boxing to help young people tackle problems, including mental health issues, drink and/ or drug dependency, underperformance at school and challenging family lives. And, in Selby, it has the perfect ambassador.
The 31-year-old has spoken openly about his problems with drink and drugs in his youth, about the death of his elder brother Michael 10 years ago and the impact it had on him.
He has talked about losing his mother Frankie in the days leading up to his rematch with Jonathan Victor Barros in 2017 and, a week after that fight, the death of his grandfather Peter.
But, despite all the setbacks he has faced, Selby has somehow found the strength to stay positive and he now uses the highs and lows of his life to help others with their struggles. “I’m trying to pass on my experiences and advice,” said Selby.
“I’m not the greatest public speaker, I’m not someone who can just stand up and tell people like it is, so I just let them ask the questions and we start from there.
“Of f the i r questions, I bounce back and I can get to them that way.
“If I wasn’t a boxer, they wouldn’ t acknowledge me, but, when they have seen me on TV and boxing, they really take in what I have to say.
“We go into deprived areas and the kids are quite bad and, if it’s a PE teacher trying to talk to them and tell them how to play football, they’re not going to listen, whereas they look up to boxers.”
Mentors at the gym use programmes named after some of boxing’s most famous characters to deliver messages to the youngsters that serve them well in the ring and in the outside world.
Selby added: “Boxing is seen as a big, macho sport and we use that to break through to them. I come from a hard background and boxing definitely saved me and turned my life around.
“From the age of eight, I started amateur boxing, but, when I reached my teenage years, I started hanging around with the wrong crowd, getting up to no good, smoking weed, drinking, taking drugs. There was a time I went off the path and boxing helped me get my focus back. “Boxing changed my life.” Selby was 21 when his brother fell into a river and drowned.
He said: “When my brother passed away, that was my lightbulb moment. I turned pro and the rest is history. People see me and think, ‘If he can do it, I can do it’.
“It’s easy to identify those who come in to the gym and need help, but there’s no single key to help them, they’re all individuals.
“I’ve never been an outspoken person, but the older I get, the more I open up to people.
“It’s important to share your feelings and what you’ve gone through – that’s what I say.”