Boxing champions backing kids for a bright future
A cavalcade of champs – spearheaded by former British heavyweight titleholder and Mike Tyson foe Julius Francis – turned out to support a new boxing venture keeping kids on the straight and narrow, writes Mike Lockley.
Commonwealth light-flyweight king Matt Windle, Craig Cunningham, ex WBC international middleweight boss, and Midlands light-welter champ Ben Fields came to Bilston on Saturday (March 4) to support Bright Star.
Spearheaded by former Wolverhampton cruiserweight Matt Sen, it is an establishment with one aim – to take children, some troubled, some excluded from school, some facing the threat of exclusion, and steer them on the right path.
Working alongside former amateur heavy Joe Lockley, who launched the Bright Star business plan, and Kat Stanworth, Sen has certainly hit the ground running.
Launched on January 4, the Bilston high street HQ already has packed classes. Sen and his four-strong team are already seeing a difference in young people who are given a blend of boxing tuition and academic studies.
Bright Star’s base is a mix of blackboards and heavy bag, pads and paperwork.
Those who attended Saturday’s packed event were treated to food, games and live reggae music. They were even given the chance to move around the ring with some of the fighters.
Birmingham’s Cunningham, now 34, said: “This is class. It’s helping to keep young people off the streets and keep them learning.”
Windle, by day, the sport’s only professional poet, said: “It’s incredible, I want to support this. I was excluded from main-stream school, I was banned from football for fighting, I went to pupil referral units.
“As strange as it sounds, what gets pupils into trouble is their talents. They have talents, but misguided talents. If you are fighting on the street, that’s using your talents negatively. Fighting in a boxing ring is using your talents positively.”
Windle is to become an ambassador for the Bright Star brand.
Sen, aged 35, explained what a day at the establishment entails.
“They start by punching out their frustration on the bag,” he said. "Because we don’t know what their yesterday was like or what their today will be.
“I was one of these kids – no direction, no role models. Boxing taught me a lesson, it gave me character, it gave me a thirst to be a winner. Boxing gave me so much and I’m blessed to be in a position to now give something back. This is the perfect way to give something back.
“If I can do it, these kids can do it. Twenty years ago, I was where these kids are now, but back then there was no support.”
He added: “One hundred per cent, I’ve seen so much change in these kids. The change has been phenomenal. I thought it would be a slow process, but it’s grown legs so quickly.
“I’m living the dream, I’m living something I feel. I’m blessed to be in the position I am today.”
