Dronfield/Sheffield boxing-MMA club ordered to leave 10-year base

Dozens of young amateur boxers and martial arts enthusiasts have lost their '˜home' in Dronfield from tomorrow.
Andy Marlow, Akademy gym, DronfieldAndy Marlow, Akademy gym, Dronfield
Andy Marlow, Akademy gym, Dronfield

The S18 gym off Callywhite Lane has been forced to close, leaving gym users, MMA and amateur boxing competitors, without a base.

Andy Marlow, who has run the gym for 10 years said he’d been given “just under three weeks notice to quit” and that runs out on Friday morning.

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He said it had been “a devastating blow...not just for me, for the kids.”

Andy Marlow, Akademy gym, DronfieldAndy Marlow, Akademy gym, Dronfield
Andy Marlow, Akademy gym, Dronfield

The young boxers are “all aspiring to be Olympic champions, they don’t like football, not bothered about sitting in and playing on the PlayStation, they come three or four times a week minimum, most of them.”

He said they were struggling to keep the boxing unit together but were getting support from the local Rotary Club of Dronfield and the town council. “There is a little bit of hope but no premises” he said.

*The S18 ‘Akademy’ gym was once owned by Liverpool football legend Kenny Dalglish.

*Dronfield ABA, amid the uncertainty, host a show in the civic hall on Friday night.