Dad knew what to do after moving to a new area of ​​Liverpool.
Matt Tyrer, 38, is originally from Whiston. When he moved to Walton with his wife Louise, son Max and daughter Emilia a few years ago, he noticed something was missing from the area.
Speaking to the ECHO, he said: “I used to box as a kid to get me out of trouble. When I moved to Walton, I noticed they didn’t have (the club). I wanted to get my young son into boxing.”
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Matt, along with other volunteers, set about converting a building on Heathcote Road into a dedicated boxing club. He said: “The building we are in now used to be a gym that housed boxing.
“In 2018 we decided to sign up with England Boxing and get volunteers involved and set up the structures with the kids.”
Mat and others intend to make Walton ABC one of the best boxing clubs in the area. According to him, the club is vital to improving the lives of young people in any field. His son Max is a regular at the gym, and his daughter Emilia also trained there.
Matt said: “We get all different types of kids. At Walton, we accept children from families who don’t have much. Children who may not have been doing well in school and were expelled. In the gym, they are the most beautiful kids in the world.
“They have a lot of respect for the people around the gym. What we do with the elders, we make the younger ones friends with them. My boy is 10 years old – he watches 13 year olds.
“At the weekend we had children in primary school with those who left school. They looked at each other. The friendship was great. “
According to Matt, the example of other Merseyside boxers, compared to the higher costs in other sports such as football, is making the sport increasingly attractive to Merseyside youngsters and their parents.
They said: “My boy plays football. It will cost £50 a month for the pitch and umpires.
“Together with our club, we receive pepper rent. We have an honesty box at the door for people coming to the gym.
“People like Natasha Jonas are a source of inspiration. People see boxing as accessible, regardless of your race or how much money your parents have.
“There is a perception that boxing clubs are a difficult place to get into. It is our gym. But at our gym everyone is welcome and no one is pressured to compete and box. There are those who come every week and don’t get involved, and that’s okay.
“For those who do, we invest in extra sessions so they can compete.”
This work is beginning to bear fruit. One of its boxers, Aiden Farrakhan-Corbett, competed in the national championships last weekend. This weekend, he and 26 other boxers will represent the Merseyside and Cheshire region at the England Boxing National Schools Finals in Newcastle.
According to Mati, young boxers deserve the greatest praise. He said: “It has evolved naturally over the last few years. We are where we wanted to participate in the championship with the children.
“This is our first step in this journey. This is an achievement for us, the first step to get to the first table. This is the promise of the region.
“Aiden, who’s in the finals, he’s 6-foot-1. He looks like a grown man. But he is the nicest, most polite young man. He is such a good kid and gets along well with others. All egos are left at the door.
“I was telling our treasurer last night – it hasn’t been a week. It’s big for the club. For many of us, this is a first.”
This does not mean that running a club is completely easy. The club relies on the work of volunteers like Mat and grants from boxing and other organizations to keep going.
He said: “If it was up to me, there would be a boxing gym in every postcode.
“We don’t get paid, the kids don’t – we do it for the love of the sport.” The level of technique throughout the country is simply phenomenal.
“For Merseyside and Cheshire as a region, it’s growing and growing year on year for the sport. New clubs are coming.
“Kids come to the box all the time. It’s like football without fans. Without these children, there would be no boxing. Across the region, there are some absolutely fantastic fighters who can go on to make names for themselves and fight in the arena one day.”
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