Gyms in East London have, over the years, produced more than their fair share of Britain’s boxing greats. Repton Boxing Club is a classic example of this, with the prodigies who honed their skills in its rings including names such as John H Stracey, Audley Harrison, Maurice Hope, Gary Barker, Sylvester Mitte and Tony Cesay.

There is something about Britain’s most deprived inner-city areas that produces great boxers. Gyms in East London, gyms in Glasgow and gyms in places like Bolton in the midlands, where Amir Khan hails from, have invariably been the breeding ground for Britain’s boxers. Chris Eubank also grew into five-year world middleweight champion in gyms in East London, mainly in Pekham and Hackney.

Why exactly do the most deprived inner-city areas all around the world and not just in the UK, produce the champion fighters, almost without exception? Boxing as a sport is popular in universities and is taught in a far larger percentage of private schools than public ones. So, theoretically, those kinds of environment, which have a weighting towards middle-class representation, should also produce their share of champion boxers. But somehow they don’t.

There is no scientifically relevant research, which can be produced to explain exactly why this is the case. The socio-economic demographic of champion boxers clearly shows that comparative to the number of registered boxers, those from poorer backgrounds and neighbourhoods are much more strongly represented in terms of success. Precisely why that is the case can only really be speculated rather than scientifically defined.

The reason why prize fighters tend to come out of gyms in East London rather than gyms in Notting Hill, where theoretically equipment and conditions are likely to be better, is put down to attitude. Boxers from middle-class backgrounds, the theory goes, don’t have the same mental toughness, aggression, will to win and survival instinct as those from tough backgrounds have instilled in them. There is some argument that this is the case in other sports as well, with the greatest footballers coming from impoverished backgrounds. However, there is no-where near the same statistical imbalance of success as boxing shows towards the lower end of the socio-economic demographic.

For want of a better explanation it seems that there must be something in the theory that a tough background does something to instill something other than pure physical skill and conditioning into boxers. The facts of the matter show that this third element, a mental one, is as important to a boxer, if not more so, than the purely physical ones. Gyms in East London are proud of this heritage and see themselves as giving youngsters from one of the UK’s poorest regions a chance to learn discipline and pride in themselves. Not everyone can be a champion boxer, but I think we can all agree that an atmosphere and adult guidance that teaches kids from sometimes troubled backgrounds how to control their aggression, sportsmanship and discipline has to be a good thing.

The London Olympics and the redevelopment that East London is currently undergoing as a result, especially with regard to sporting facilities, will hopefully strengthen that legacy.

It would be great to see a home-grown boxer or two from of the gyms in East London doing the area proud at the Olympic on home soil.

It would be great to see a home-grown boxer or two from of the http://www.payasugym.com/gyms-in-london/east-london gyms in East London doing the area proud at the Olympic on home soil.

Author Bio: It would be great to see a home-grown boxer or two from of the gyms in East London doing the area proud at the Olympic on home soil.

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