Wolves ABC set for GB boxing boom
Wolverhampton Amateur Boxing Club will be staging an open day for new members after they were inundated with calls due to Team GB's success at London 2012.
Wolverhampton Amateur Boxing Club will be staging an open day for new members after they were inundated with calls due to Team GB's success at London 2012.
Team GB's best medal haul in Olympic boxing for over a century has captured the imagination of the Black Country and Wolves ABC, on Willenhall Road, want to capitalise.
They will throw open their doors to the public on Sunday from 10am to 12pm completely free of charge, with all 10 of the club's coaches on hand for specialist training.
Inside is the ring Amir Khan trained in before winning silver at the 2004 Games in Athens which he donated to the club, who have produced two Olympians themselves.
Tipton's Roy Addison was the first at the 1960 Games in Rome before Wolverhampton's Tony Wilson, the city's last British champion, at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
Their journeys started at Wolves ABC and a home Games could be the start of another 'boxing boom,' as prospective fighters pour into the gym.
Club secretary John Thomas said: "We are opening on Sunday for the community, anybody who wants to come can come, free of charge.
"They can do anything, they can get in and perform and train with the coaches and use all of our equipment.
"Longer term, we won't accept anybody under eight-years-old, because they cannot get in the ring until they are 10.
"Ever since the closing ceremony of the Olympics, the phone hasn't stopped ringing, it started just after midnight!"
Women's boxing appeared at the Games for the first time in London, with Team GB's Nicola Adams the first-ever female gold medalist.
It's opened the floodgates further for women to take up the sport and Wolves ABC are keen to cater for both of the sexes in the future.
The club will be represented by a girl fighter for the first time on their next show in October when Natalie Marsh, 14, puts on the gloves.
Thomas said: "There's a lot of girls now who want to come down and not all of them want to box, they just want to protect themselves.
"But one of our girls has set her sights on being in the Olympics in four years time, she's really trying hard for that dream.
"You have got to be ultra-good just to get past your own area now, then into the Midlands Counties and the ABA squads.
"It will take you four years to get anywhere but they have to start at a club, the most important thing is to learn the basics."
