WORLD champion David Haye pledged his support for The Star's Boxing against Bullying Campaign, and revealed even he had once been the victim of school-yard harassment.
Cruiserweight king Haye, who now has plans to challenge for the world heavyweight crown, has been toldd of The Star's project in local schools and communities by Rotherham trainer Dave Coldwell, who works for his Hayemaker Promotions company.
Speaking on video at thestar.co.uk, he said: "I think it's a great campaign.
"I, for one, have had some sort of bullying as a kid.
"I was a bit bigger than the other kids in my year when I was growing up so people think I would have been okay – but that size just encouraged the older kids to try and get stuck in on me."
But boxing brought him and others discipline and strength, said the 6ft 3ins 27-year-old star.
"You realise it takes a real man to get in there with someone of your own size and age... you cannot just be a bully in the ring, because you would get found out pretty soon."
He said that with gun and knife culture rife in society: "You definitely need stuff like boxing to discipline and humble people."
He estimated up to 15 of his friends had "either been locked up or actually been killed" in his home area of Bermondsey, south London.
He said it was "a pretty tough area and a lot of people I grew up with are dead or in prison.
"For me, going into a boxing gym at the age of 10 or 11 and competing completely took me away from that lifestyle and allowed me to focus everything on my talent, which was boxing.
"Now it is pretty much a fairy tale. Now I am world champion and things have gone the way I wanted only because I threw away the gun and gang culture and went into a boxing gym and did some hard graft."
Haye sent out a message to Sheffield Boxing Centre who are campaigning the anti-bullying message on The Star's behalf: "Keep doing it. Sooner or later that message will drum home to these guys.
READ MORE More boxing. Sports columnists. All sport categories"Many of these bullies are people who have got stuff missing from their lives.
"Sometimes it takes these kids – who are a bit lost in life and have nothing else to do but bully – to learn a discipline to make them realise they are not achieving much in their life."
CLICK ON THE GREEN PLAY ICON TO SEE THE VIDEOThe full article contains 442 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
