A former British boxing champion has helped improve the lives of ex-service personnel in partnership with local charity Fighting Chance.
Martin Power, who won 22 of his 29 fights as a bantamweight boxer and twice competed for the Commonwealth title, coached the Fighting Chance for Veterans course, run at Islington Boxing Club.
Islington Boxing Club CEO Lenny Hagland said that Power had also been doing sessions with the club outside of his scheduled hours with Fighting Chance.
“Martin has been organising sessions for taxi drivers during the day and doing some private one-on-one coaching,” he said. “But Martin has been here twice a week with Fighting Chance, too, helping disadvantaged members of society back into meaningful employment. He’s been very well received.”
Fighting Chance relies on government and army funding such as the Armed Forces Covenant Fund, working predominantly with people that have been marginalised in the labour market. In the past, this has included the long-term unemployed, ex-offenders, people with health conditions and those at risk of gang activity.
The charity, which boasts former World Champion John Conteh MBE as one of its patrons, was established in 2015 by former recruitment executive Imran Khalil. He has been a member of Islington Boxing Club since 2004 and has seen first-hand how boxing has been able to improve and adapt transferable skills such as discipline, positivity and even time keeping from the ring to real life scenarios.
Nine Fighting Chance courses that were funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), as well as two which were corporately-funded, resulted in 50 per cent of attendees getting back into work, with almost 70 per cent either in work or in some form of employment training. 90 per cent of those who took a course have said that it improved their well-being.
Despite such progress, the DWP stopped funding two years ago. Since then, the charity has relied on army and corporate funding for its programmes, and Khalil is concerned about where future funds will come from.
“We have just put in an application for more funding, but the large organisations always seem to hoover it up. It’s tough,” he said.
“It is a shame that, although the course is delivered in Islington, the majority of people that we work with are not from the borough. Referrals from army organisations come from all over London, so Islington residents are not benefiting.
“The people who have completed one of our courses are always very positive. I spent 18 years in recruitment, so we tailor one-to-one plans to a specific individual’s needs.
“We often feature guest boxers who share how they have applied the skills they learnt in the ring to their lives. These guests, as well as our patrons, are all very supportive.”
Some of those guests include former World Featherweight Champion Colin McMillan and British and Commonwealth Lightweight Champion – as well as world title contender – Kevin Mitchell. Backing from big names within boxing have done nothing but increase the credibility of an already popular programme.
Khalil adds that the charity has signed the Armed Forces Covenant – a pledge that acknowledges that those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect – and is now working closely with Military Charities such as STOLL and Veterans Aid.
He says he has approached Islington Council for funding on numerous occasions, but claims his efforts have come to nothing.
“We highlighted [to the council] that a programme that makes a real difference was in danger of disappearing, but they did not seem interested,” he said.
We approached Islington Council for comment but they declined to respond.
