Boxing legend Roberto Duran opens Hemsworth club
BIG-HITTING boxers from Hemsworth were caught with the sucker-punch of their lives on Saturday when legendary boxer Roberto Duran visited to open the new Alpha Boxing Club.
The Panama fighter, considered by many to be the greatest lightweight boxer of all time, has fought major bouts in New York, Las Vegas and Buenos Aires but found time to visit former opponent Dave Radford, of Hemsworth, to help open his new club.
Duran, most famous for defeating Sugar Ray Leonard to claim the WBC Welterweight title, went toe-to-toe with Hemsworth hitter Radford in 1997 in South Africa.
And the two remain in contact, with Duran making a surprise stop-off in Hemsworth during a dinner-speaking tour of the UK.
Radford, who's worked hard alongside fellow ABA-qualified boxing coach Neil Wilson to open the new club, said: "We'd been in contact with boxing promoter Andy Bucker and he helped get Roberto along to the club.
"We were told to keep it quiet so we got all the boxers along and could only tell them two hours before his arrival.
"It was a mad day, we had loads of people come along and I couldn't believe we actually had Roberto Duran upstairs in our club in Hemsworth."
Duran recorded 70 knockouts from his 103 professional wins but Radford managed to take the Panama boxer all the way in Johannesburg in '97.
"I did some plastering at the time and was plastering at a relatives house when I got the call from my manager about the fight," he said.
"I was ranked ninth in England at the time and I dropped my trowel straight away and went straight over to South Africa.
"There were four of five title fights that night and I was in the main event so it was some occasion, I'm still hurting from it today!"
The duo have stayed in contact following the bout.
And after Radford saw his career cut short in the ring through injury he maintained his interest in the sport, coaching budding boxers at the Kings Head in Hemsworth for 18 years until the space became unavailable earlier this year.
But a room at Hemsworth Alpha club helped save his club, which has over 40 boxers on its books.
And it's been a real community effort to get it up and running.
Coach Neil Wilson said: "We owe much of our thanks to local councillor Glyn Lloyd for all his help in getting us the grants we needed to get the club up and running."
"It was a catch 22 situation because we had no ring at the time so we spent money to buy a ring and then get the grants for new equipment."
He added: "It's fantastic to keep going because we've offered free training for so long and helped keep young lads off the streets."
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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