The Mancunian Way: ‘Like something from a Rocky film’
manchestereveningnews.co.ukBoxing might be known as the fight game, but it’s not something you play at. It can be a brutal, murky and dangerous business.
But the sport also has an almost unmatched capacity to connect with even the most disaffected youths. As anyone involved with boxing knows it has the power – particularly among working-class kids – to improve health, discipline and education.
It’s something Tommy McDonagh, who runs Collyhurst and Moston Boxing Club, knows only too well. The former light-middleweight champion was once one of those kids, but boxing gave him a focus, a career and a future.
And now, through the work of the 0161 Project, he’s hoping the sport can help steer others toward the right path. Every week around 150 children, teenagers and young adults who've been excluded from school, are on the brink of being kicked out, or are not in mainstream education, come to the club on Lightbowne Road, or to four other gyms and youth clubs across north Manchester.
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