Grant gives inspirational gym a fighting chance
A boxing gym that teaches young people to stay away from crime has been handed a £10,000 lifeline, thanks to the Evening Standard's Dispossessed campaign.
Frank Bruno, Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe are among the roll call of British champions who have trained at the All Stars Boxing Gym in Ladbroke Grove.
It is run by the inspirational Isola Akay who founded it in 1974 for boxers excluded from other gyms because of their skin colour.
The grant, awarded from the Big Lottery Fund's People Powered Change Initiative, will help pay for a coach to run targeted training sessions with unemployed people, with the aim of assisting them out of poverty and into education or work.
Mr Akay, 76, said: "The grant will help fulfil the positive work we're doing. It's like a war zone out on the street. In my time it wasn't like that. There were guns but not like it's going on in London now.
"Here we're one big happy family. We've got Iranian, Egyptian, Irish, black, white. This club teaches them discipline and to live peacefully wherever they are from. We transform their negative energy into positive accomplishments."
Mr Akay's team has raised £46,000 towards a £100,000 target to see off the threat of closure. Razorlight did a benefit gig at the gym last month.
Mr Akay said it would be a "disaster" for local young people if the club closed, adding: "To most of them it's a spiritual home. There'd be 300 disillusioned, angry men out there causing mayhem without it." His son Raman, 25, a coach at the gym, wants to continue his father's legacy. He said: "Though it's full of sweat and the coaches give tough love, the youngsters need the gym. It's a haven.
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"Everyone knows my dad in the area. He gets respect because he stands for something positive. We need more places like this in London and all over Britain."
Boxer Jack Rawley, 22, said: "Without All Stars I'd probably be in and out of prison."
Fellow member Obi Egbunike, 18, praised the gym for inspiring him to pursue a career in coaching and training. He said: "There are lots of distractions on the streets but coming here gives you discipline."
