Tommy Barber – London
Amir Khan‘s boxing achievements have oft filled the back pages… the Briton unified his WBA super lightweight championship with the IBF title last month when he disposed of Zab Judah within a quarter of an hour. Inside the ring, Khan is developing an unforgiving brutal streak but the Bolton native has again shown his altruistic side out of it as he has provided the evicted Gallagher camp with full use of his gym for an unlimited period of time.
Picture: Stacey Verbeek - Maple Avenue Boxing Gym, Dallas
Joe Gallagher’s recent eviction, from the erstwhile named Gallagher’s Gym in Denton, was – as Kerry Kayes, the gym owner explained – down to Gallagher taking too much control: “There was no room for me in Joe’s work,” Kayes said to Boxing Scene regarding the decision to leave Gallagher and his high quality stable of fighters gym-less. “I just felt there wasn’t room for me in my own gym,” he added.
Gallagher is one of the premier trainers in Britain. Amongst his boxing crew are former world title challenger Matthew Macklin (28-3-0, 19ko), former European champion John Murray (31-1-0, 18ko) and British lightweight king Anthony Crolla (21-2-0, 9ko), however, the eviction meant Gallagher’s stable had nowhere to train… until Khan heard the news.
Despite a domestic rivalry between Murray and Khan (26-1-0, 18ko), who may well have been involved in a slobberknocker of a bout earlier this year had Amir not elected to box Dungiven southpaw Paul McCloskey, the super lightweight king showed that even though he has set-up his own camp in Hollywood with renowned trainer Freddie Roach, he is still no stranger to his roots as he opened the doors of his Bolton-based Gloves Community Centre to Gallagher et al.
“Amir told his dad to let me know we could use his Gloves Community Centre,” Gallagher said in the Manchester Evening News. “I’ve known Amir ever since he was kid and it shows that even after all the success he’s had as a world champion, he still cares about other fighters.
“He knows a lot of the lads from when they were amateurs and it is a really generous offer. We are looking for our own permanent premises and had been offered space by a few amateur clubs. We are really grateful for that, but Amir’s gym is a top-class facility and with a busy six or seven weeks coming up, it is a really big help.”
Gallagher finished: “The beauty of boxing is that people are always willing to help each other out.”
Khan spent £700,000 ($1.15 million) of his own money in order to set-up the Gloves facility.
(Video embedded above, credit – Youtube, WOODDDDDDDYAKHAN4)
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