Madison Square Gardens, Las Vegas and Atlantic City are all well known boxing venues where many highly decorated world boxing champions will have battled or spectated at some point in their careers. Sugar Ray Leonard would certainly be included in that elite group. So why was he in Surbiton on a cold March day??
DailySport caught up with John Murphy (part owner of Surbiton Amateur Boxing Club along with Gary Thatcher and a principal figure for World Boxing Cares – WBC), and Frank Bartley, (the gaffer at the Saucy Kettle Pub in Surbiton) to establish why one of the world best ever pugilists was in the not so sunny side of South West London.
PZ: So John – Sugar Ray bowls up in Surbiton. How did this happen and why?
JM: With my involvement in the boxing scene and charitable work, I thought it would be great to get Sugar Ray to come and meet the local community and with only a £5 entrance fee the general public were able to meet one of their idols on their doorstep. There was also a £10 charge to have a photo taken with the champ. Sugar Ray was an absolute pleasure to be around. One of the nicest people you could ever meet. Incredibly polite and nothing was a problem. For the lads at the club it was a massive boost just to have his presence in the gym.
Sugar Ray did a Q & A in the ring and answered each question whole heartedly and honestly. I also invited some of the lads from Headley Court who had been injured in battle and he gave them a pair of signed shorts and some boxing gloves. Just a top man.
I do a lot of voluntary work for the WBC and through them was able to get this opportunity to offer the lads at the boxing gym and also the wider community in Surbiton. Working with the WBC has exposed me to some of the biggest names ever in boxing such as Mohamed Ali, Larry Holmes, Ken Norton. I could go on for ages name dropping some of the most incredible boxing legends out there. I feel privileged.
The charity side of things is very close to my heart. Last year we did fight night with the champions, where Tim Witherspoon was fighting the local borough commander from Wimbledon and that evening raised £50,000 for the Royal Marsden and this year we are doing the same again, and but after last year’s success far more boxers have been forthcoming with memorabilia to support this years event. This includes the likes of Steve Collins, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank and Theo Paphitis. We need to beat cancer, and especially for children. It’s a nasty disease and I can’t bear to see anybody suffer, children especially.
PZ: Tell us a bit more about World Boxing Cares.
JM: The WBC helps fallen fighters who have fell on hard times. Iran Barkley is one example. He was pretty much living homeless and the WBC helped him out. As an organisation there is a good group of like minded people who achieve incredible things. Dave Walker is the main man at the WBC and is always very supportive of all the events and also personally donates a great deal.
PZ: How long have you been interested in boxing?
JM: Since I was 12 years old.
PZ: How did you get involved with John?
FB: John is the owner of the company who runs our door team, and through conversation realised we had a common interest in boxing. From that we did quite a few boxing events here at the pub. Not just hosting events, but supporting myself and helping to get as many tables sold also, such as the Royal Marsden event.
We’ve had a host of champions, many at world level, who have visited the Saucy Kettle Pub here in Surbiton, including Richie Woodhall, Glenn Catley, Colin Macmillan, Jane Couch, Tim Witherspoon, Herol Graham, Roberto Duran, John H Stracey, Julius Francis, Joe Calzaghe, Leon Spinks, Timothy Witherspoon Jr and Robin Reid.
If you are a boxing fan, than you will appreciate my walls which are covered with a vast number of boxing memorabilia items.
PZ: So John and Frank – take two like minded people such as yourselves and look what can be achieved in the local community. Would you like to see other communities achieving similar heights?
FB: The Saucy Kettle raised £10,000 alone for the last Royal Marsden function, plus also a number of items which were given for the auction. It would be great to see other businesses get involved in a similar way. We took along the highest decorated soldier to the function, and he signed books which also help generate funds. In fact, Theo Paphitis bought the book for £600!
PZ: Are we going to see more of this kind of activity from you guys into the future?
JM: Absolutely! We also want to help out as many charities as we can. If a charity approaches us for memorabilia, we will give it to them. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so many more events to be had and a host of great champions waiting to help. In May for example we have Roy Jones over to do a signing.
PZ: Tell us a bit more about Surbiton Amateur Boxing Club John.
JM: The club has just gone through a name change as it used to be called the Spit and Sawdust boxing club up to a few weeks ago.
It’s a very friendly community club. We have loads of banter and encourage everybody, every age and gender to come down. We also do circuit training and a wide number of other activities. On average we have bout 30-40 people attending. The people who attend are also very aware of the charity culture within the club and whenever we host and event, most of those who attend volunteer their time.
The gym also acts as a discipline. We have some kids who have brushed with the police and the gym gives them focus and discipline and can often act as a stepping stone for that individual to get themselves on the straight and narrow.
PZ: Big thanks for your time
JM & FB: Your welcome