THE owner of a Whitchurch boxing gym says he is looking forward to a competitive future after the club’s grand opening last week.
The Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire, Anna Turner; Andy Hall, Whitchurch mayor; Mandy Thorn, the High Sheriff of Shropshire; and Graham King from the Rotary all joined Daniel Bailey at Fort Boxing Club in Waymills on Saturday, September 2.
Boxing stars of the present and future in Liam Davies and Nathan Gorman – cousin to Tyson Fury – also joined the opening with former SAS man Rob Paxman there too.
Daniel said he was delighted with how the day went.
“We’ve been speaking to England Boxing about what it takes to be affiliated with them so that we can now form a squad and start competing,” he said.
“That’s our future goal, to get people involved in boxing and for me to get back on the gym floor doing what I love to do.”
He added: “I was overwhelmed with the amount of support we had prior to the opening day.
“We weren’t too sure about numbers which puts you on edge but the support we had from our families, from the volunteers, was brilliant.
“We had sandwiches, we had Prosecco, we had photo stands – all from the volunteers and only with a rough estimate of around 100 people there for the opening bit.
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“British and European champion Liam Davies brought all three of his belts and we had Tyson Fury’s cousin Nathan Gorman, an international heavyweight champion, plus Rob Paxman, who used to be in the SAS.
“We had a meet and greet, and a photo stand, and the kids loved it, and then we did some pad work with the coaches.
“Over the course of the day I think we had just under 200 people from 1pm-2pm to celebrate with us.”
Daniel added the day showed off the best of what the gym offers.
He added: “The day was to show the hard work that the team has done in recent weeks – we only just got the keys and it was an empty shell and they’ve turned it into a boxing gym.
“It’s all about the work – the fundraising – to pay for the work and equipment and I’m sharing my passion for coaching the sport of boxing.
“It was a chance for people to see the inside of a boxing gym and all that goes with it.”
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