Former world champion boxer and TV sport presenter Johnny Nelson says Nottingham School of Boxing sets the example of what ‘should be a national idea’.
Nelson was unveiled today (Tuesday March 21) as a patron for the Nottingham School of Boxing; he held the WBO cruiserweight title for more than seven years to 2006.
He then retired from the sport and has become a Sky Sports presenter and analyst, hosting shows such as The Gloves Are Off, where professional boxers face off against each other in a war of words.
The School of Boxing is looking for a new home and has already received support from former heavyweight champion Frank Bruno.
The school is currently in the cellar of the Pakistan Centre on Woodborough Road on a six month lease after being forced out of its original home at the Sycamore Millennium Centre, also in St Ann’s, over tenancy issues.
Johnny Nelson said: “When I first heard Baz speak, I recognised it straight away because it was something that I was brought up through in Sheffield and I had to go through a lot of tribulations to get to where I got to.
“Baz is in the position where people want to get involved – your Anthony Joshua’s want to get involved, your Floyd Mayweather’s want to get invovled because they have probably come from something similar to this.
“This sort of thing should be a national thing – where the government think we’ve got someone here who has the key to help a percentage of those involved in inner city crime and trouble get off the streets.”
Also in attendance was former British boxer Herol Graham, who is now helping to teach at the school.
He competed for 20 years from 1978 and is regarded by some as the best British boxer never to win a world title, winning 48 of his 54 professional fights.
He said: “My ideas with Baz together and Johnny Nelson who has got on board could help turn this into one of the biggest gyms, producing some of the best boxers.
“I’m going to be working here at least three times a week, probably more than that later on, but this is going to be one of the best gyms around.”
The school is run by Marcellus Baz, who was rewarded for his work in Nottingham at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards 2016 where he was given the Unsung Hero award.
The school helps young people get into education and avoid crime through sport.
Baz was also awarded a British Empire Medal for his services to youth boxing and the community in Nottingham.
He was rewarded locally too with the Community Champion of the Year award at this year’s Nottinghamshire Sport Awards.
Speaking about Johnny Nelson, Baz said: “Johnny mixed with the wrong crowd when he was a kid but he had to make the right choices and he has gone on to do phenomenal things from being a world champion to have a really successful career on TV.
“Now with people like Johnny who can pass their experiences on to the kids, they can look up to him, learn from him, get advice from him and if a kid needs to speak to Johnny we can make that happen.”
