A Morning at the Collyhurst and Moston Lads Boxing Club

Click for larger image © James Slater / Saddo Boxing

Just outside the centre of Manchester stands a no-frills, old-school boxing gym. Its title has a rather quaint ring to it, and inside the well equipped building, veteran trainer Brian Hughes is hard at work with his stable of fighters, fighters who prefer the old fashioned and
traditional boxing gyms, as apposed to the high-tech alternatives that are more and more prolific these days. Former super middleweight world champion Robin Reid trains here, as does current welterweight contender Michael Jennings. These men wouldn’t change gyms for anything.

The feel of the place is gritty and real, sort of like one would expect a gym to be after having watched one or two legendary boxing movies. And one day last week, a rainy Monday at the tail end of a July heat wave, I had the privilege of experiencing firsthand just how some of Britain’s real life Rockys go about their business. In a gym that is a reminder of how all pro boxers once got ready for a prize fight, the passion and intensity on display from the young fighters and their veteran coach more than live up to my expectations.

Thanks to my bumping into Pat Barrett, the former British and European Light Welterweight Champion, and current co-trainer at The Lads club, I am here by invitation. More than grateful at getting the chance to watch these honest and talented pros learn their trade, I stand in silence as the knowledgeable Hughes puts them through their paces.

First up is Michael Jennings. In training for his upcoming bout with the dangerous punching Takaloo, Michael is in the initial stages of intense training. His workout is indeed punishing. After warming up, the former British Welterweight Champion engages in some forty minutes of virtually non-stop sparring.

In one minute bursts with alternate spar mates, Jennings throws no punches back as his defence is sharpened, as apposed to his punching efficiency. Working constantly in sweltering conditions (Michael consumes his fair share of water today) the twenty-eight year old enthusiastically throws himself into his work.

Boxing with, not against him, are; flyweight Rhys Roberts, a seventeen year old amateur of whom big things are expected; Matthew Hall, the 16-0 light middleweight prospect and other up and comers who I, unfortunately, didn’t have the chance to meet properly.

Brian seems happy with Michael’s performance and tells me later that if everyone was as disciplined as Jennings is, the sport would be in much better shape these days. “There’s no way”, Hughes says, “that I would have let Danny Williams come in at such a heavy weight
when he fought Matt Skelton. Not if I was training him.”

Brian ponders my question thoughtfully when I ask him if he thinks some of the discipline is missing from certain fighters today. “All fighters have a fighting weight, they have to have so they can be sharp,” he responds. ” All great fighters had a specific weight. With the heavyweights years ago, Ali and Cooper, for example, they were great at around fourteen to fifteen stone; actually thirteen stone, three pounds with Cooper. You must have that to be sharp.” I can only agree with Hughes, one of the friendliest and most honest figures I have ever met from the fight game.

Following the sparring, Michael hits the pads for around twenty minutes before finishing off with some press-ups and stomach strengthening exercises. And after all this, not forgetting the fact that he has done more than his fair share of roadwork much earlier this morning, Michael finds the energy to talk to me!

Immensely impressed with his conditioning, it is a pleasure for me to speak with such a dedicated and ambitious fighter. “I can’t wait for the Takaloo fight”, he informs me. With his softly spoken demeanour and complete lack of bombast, I at times have to remind myself that this is the aggressive and frighteningly determined fighter who had thrilled so many fans with his superb bout with Bradley Pryce a year ago. “I’m not the type to shoot my mouth off, I just always think I’m going to win, whoever I fight,” said Jennings. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be in there. I’m not predicting a stoppage (against Takaloo), but you never know, I might cut him and beat him that way, just so long as I win, that’s all that matters.”

I commend him on the effort he put into his training today and not surprisingly, Michael lets me how much he loves it. “Training’s never been a problem with me. I’ve been boxing since the age of thirteen and I haven’t really had a break since I started.”

At a young looking twenty-eight, he certainly doesn’t have to worry about burning out just yet, that’s for sure. Still, Brian shares with me the fact that for the Young Muttley fight, Michael’s only defeat, his charge was, unbeknown to him, participating in some extra training for the contest. “ He was so tired during stages of that fight, and I didn’t know why”, says Hughes. “I know why now, he was coming in here and doing some more work. I accept the loss to Muttley, but Michael over trained, which is as bad as under training. He won’t make that mistake again.”

Indeed, there is a lot at stake for Jennings in the Takaloo fight. And although the lightly regarded WBU title will be on the line, Brian tells me that these days any title can mean something. “It goes in the record books. And if Michael can beat Takaloo, please God, he can always say he was a world champion. I don’t like these multiple titles any more than any other old-timer who pines for the old days of eight weight divisions, but those times are not coming back.”

Referring to himself as an old-timer gives you some idea of how down to earth Brian Hughes is. Always ready with a smile and a joke, he really cares about his fighters; his ultimate aim for them being that they get out of the sport completely undamaged. He enjoys what he
does too, and he assures me his enthusiasm is just as strong today.

He has practiced his profession at the Lads club for over twenty-five years, and he prides himself on the fact that no other gym takes the approach to training that his does. “You go round to other gyms and you will not see them doing what we do here,” says Hughes. “We work on certain skills, all our sparring is learning sparring. We train the brain as well as the body.”

And as I’ve said, in his gym the hi-tech equipment may be noticeable by its absence, but not one single fighter here either suffers because of this, or ever mentions it. They get on with their job the old fashioned way, and as such the atmosphere, level headedness, and even beauty, is something to treasure. In short, The Collyhurst and Moston Lads club is Genuine. As is the sweat and toil, in particular that of Michael Jennings.

I feel a sense of duty to finish off my morning at the gym with a few final words with the welterweight hope. “Your fight with Takaloo (on September 2) is on a huge bill, with Clinton Woods boxing Glen Johnson for a third time. The Americans will be tuning in as a result, will this big stage phase you at all, or will you just take it in your stride?”, I ask him. “No, I’m not bothered about them lot, all I’m concerned with is winning my fight.”

His candid manner and straightforwardness when replying to my questions is really quite refreshing. There is not one ounce of false bravado in Michael Jennings. He is simply a fighter by trade, and one who loves what he does for a living. He even lets Brian speak on his behalf when the subject of a potential fight with Amir Khan is brought up. Michael is definitely the type of boxer who prefers to let his fists do the talking.

And with this mental and physical makeup, he is perfectly suited to the surroundings one will find at Brian Hughes’ wonderfully traditional boxing gym in the north of England.