An emotional George Groves paid tribute to the west London boxing club that nurtured him from 12-year-old to world title contender as it opened its state of the art £400,000 gym in North Kensington this week.
The man who sold out Wembley fighting Carl Froch two years ago, choked as he recalled how Dale Youth ABC volunteer coaches Mickey Delaney and Peter Carson tended not only him, but Olympic, national, and dozens of schoolboy champions, including arch rival James DeGale, in a former morgue before moving to cramped conditions under the imposing Grenfell Tower on the Lancaster Estate.
But the brand new facility, now on the first floor, has everything to entice the next generation of boxers.
Funded by a mixture of sponsorship from recycling centre Powerday on Old Oak Common, government and council grants, the new Dale gym will continue to be the ‘champions factory’ Groves said.
Officially opened by Keith Walters OBE, the President of England Boxing also believed the facilities would continue to churn out top boxers for generations to come.
“You talk about old-time spit and sawdust gyms producing winners,” said Walters, “but think how much better it will be when young kids don’t have to go outside in December to do their skipping work because of the lack of room.”
Leader of Kensington & Chelsea council Nick Paget-Brown joked as he leaned against the ropes that political opponents would be keen to get him in a ring, but was deadly serious when he offered Kensington Leisure Centre as a venue for future Dale shows.
The upgraded £29.4 million facility in Walmer Road sits around 100 yards from Dale’s gym, and Paget-Brown insisted it only needed the boxing ring to make the short journey for K&C to provide the rest.
Dale chairman Graham Gater had tongue firmly in cheek when he spoke of the ‘very, very slight improvement’ on what went before, but the motivational poster on the wall starting with ‘it will hurt…’ at least allows boxers to salve the blows in the most expensive purpose built gym in the country.
