OCTOBER 2023

British Vintage Boxing recently started supporting a charity with great core values and integrity, making a genuine fundamental difference in society. Boxwise was originally one of a number of incredible projects which the Nick Maughan Foundation offered. However, recently, Boxwise registered as a charity and a company Limited by guarantee and is firmly set to stand on its own two feet, supporting itself financially and ready to create an incredible slipstream of positivity over the coming years.

BVB caught up with Boxwise Chief Operating Officer, Scott Lovelock to shine a torch on this rapidly growing organisation. Lovelock explained the mechanics of the charity. “Boxwise is opening opportunities to young people they wouldn’t ordinarily get, through a fully funded 10-week programme addressing everything from youth knife crime, county lines, gang violence, homelessness, domestic violence. In brief, everything that could impact them in society at present, whether that be in their school life or personal lives.

“Boxwise is a noncontact programme, which is really important and to keep at the forefront of our minds. Despite being noncontact, it’s the discipline of the sport we embrace. Boxing is a really underestimated framework and used to be called ‘poor mans chess,’ because it’s quite strategic. It’s not just a case of going into a ring and slugging it out. It’s about feeling out your opponent, looking at their stance and figuring out your next move, whilst trying to outwit them. Through the conduit of sport, which in our case is boxing, we are able to create a framework which outlines building blocks for life.

“If you have a young person who has for example come from a pupil referral unit, or similar route to us, emotional control is a massive part of their future success. If you can learn to embrace that and think, ‘You know what? I’m going to learn to control my temper now, because I’ve been taught a coping technique, that’s going to make my life go in a different way. A positive one.’ If we can achieve that, it’s massive. To make them realise they do have a purpose, after they’ve been written off in the press and written off in society, and make them realise, they are not bad people inside, that’s worth it. Time is the greatest gift you can give anybody, because it’s the one thing you won’t get any more of.

“Each week has a different value, such as purpose, adaptability, teamwork, emotional control and that’s attributed to a boxer each week, which comes with an explanation about how that boxer overcame what was negatively impacting their lives. It makes the young people realise, not only their value, but, through hard work and dedication, you can achieve anything in life.

“We also send in street doctors who give a really powerful interactive input of critical blood loss. That empowers a young person and makes them feel confident that, should they encounter a stabbing, they will be confident to get hands on and know what to do and not feel afraid to call 999, in case they don’t want to get involved.

“The last two sessions are, working on their core skills they’ve learned over the course and then it’s the graduation, which is a celebration. The graduation makes young people understand where they have come from. Going from that point of walking through that door in week one, through to everything they have achieved, standing there, showing they have stuck with it for 10 weeks, making them understand the discipline and dedication it’s taken to achieve them getting to that point.

“Successful participants receive a certificate and where we can, we put them on courses for further education and employment. We’ve partnered with a company called Course Gate and on week five, the coach will speak to the cohort and where appropriate, they will pick a course. This is more appropriate for the 16 plus age range, but just to say, we’ve actually now centred more on 10–18-year-olds.

“We also pay for and encourage the gyms to provide a hot meal at every session, so that the young people get fed. It’s not just about feeding them though, it’s about them getting quality nutrition, so they understand the values of a healthy diet when you work hard, not to mention the merits it has for your mental health. However, we don’t put gyms off if they can’t provide a meal, simply because we don’t want someone to not run a programme with us because doing meals is too difficult for them, which would consequently mean that we would miss those young people being engaged with Boxwise.”

Boxwise started in 2019, but with the global pandemic occurring shortly after, the organisation hit a speedbump. Lovelock explained how challenge in the face of adversity was overcome. “We are partnered with England Boxing, so we have the luxury of having some of the very best coaches in the country and having one of the biggest governing bodies to guide us. During COVID, we really relied on our partnerships to help us still deliver our sessions. At first, when it was during complete lockdown, we had to go back to not delivering the course, because it wasn’t safe to do so. That was really painful for us, because we are only a small team and are really passionate about what and how we deliver it. Then, to be told by the government that we couldn’t do that, made us feel we were letting the young people down. They had started making the effort, started turning up and it must have felt a bit like we weren’t bothering with them. Luckily, they could see on the news that it was a decision we didn’t take lightly and ultimately, the decision was made for us. We had no choice. What we did do, when we had correct social distancing and abided by the code of control measures, we brought back boxing into gyms, in smaller numbers, but more days of the week to ensure we met the quota of people in need.”

As we approach 2025, Lovelock shared some statistics, demonstrating their heavyweight status in the voluntary sector. “England Boxing has circa 973 gyms across the UK. Through our partnership, we have access to all of them. Currently, we are working regularly out of about 45 gyms, but have worked out of 104 in total to date. We have delivered 2,773 classes and have graduated 287 courses, of which we have graduated 3,337 students. That breaks down to a total class attendance of 31,171, with 24,616 being under 18. In addition, we have provided 20,255 hot meals.”

In order for voluntary entities to synergise with corporate entities, there needs to be a platform of vision and core beliefs. Lovelock explained how and why the relationship with BVB came to fruition. “The link came through our cofounder and director Rick Ogden, who co-founded Boxwise in the very early days. He had followed British Vintage Boxing’s clothing and we were talking about the quality of the clothing. What struck us, and me in particular the first time I spoke with Zen from BVB, was how aligned our values are. He’s really passionate about his business and wants to make products which last the test of time and which are relevant. With us, we’ve got a small charity and small number of staff on our books, but we also want to create something that lasts the test of time, but whilst upholding our values. We are intrinsically linked.

“The quality of the clothing is fantastic and we know that it follows on from what we believe in. If we put a tracksuit on Ant Crolla, we know that it will last, it will look the part and will be around for a long time. Funnily enough, I’m wearing a maroon top as we speak! Zen dropped it off to me four days ago, and it’s like a little kid who sleeps with their new football – I’ve worn it every day since!

“We intend to get some very high profile ambassadors wearing the gear, to be photographed, such as Harlem Eubank. Through our partnership with Queensbury - watch this space, as we’ve got some big names coming very soon in front of the camera wearing the gear.”

From boxers to Hall of Fame promoters, Lovelock explained the impact of having Frank Warren and Queensberry on board. “The Queensberry partnership is massive. Frank Warren is a very, very genuine man. He recognises the value of a programme like Boxwise and the difference it makes. What was quite poignant was, we announced the partnership with Queensberry in Islington, which is where Frank grew up. He was standing on the streets of Islington and expressed in the interview what he saw growing up. He then reflected, that society has changed so much and things are getting worse in terms of things like gang violence and knife crime. He really valued the merits of Boxwise and expressed that he wanted to be a part of that.

“He asked, ‘What do you need from me?’ The difference is - with Frank Warren, he doesn’t just say it, he backs it up. They’ve committed to £1 million over five years, tackling youth knife crime across the UK. However, it’s not just, ‘Here’s the money, go away and do it,’ he’s genuinely interested in the metrics and how we deliver everything. That really shows his value.”

As Boxwise continues to expand it’s reach in line with Lovelock’s goal for the charity to be a household name within 12 months, BVB will continue to support his sterling efforts and all those who take part. To find out more about the programmes Boxwise offers, or to make a donation, please click on the following link https://boxwise.uk/our-programmes/