Revealed: Sheffield boxing club's best - and worst - moments over three decades
Sheffield Boxing Centre is celebrating 30 years of existence.
Past and present fighters were invited to the Royal Victoria Hotel to mark the anniversary and swap stories, last weekend.
The club's owner and trainer Glyn Rhodes, aged 64, presided over the event, as he has done the Burton Street, Hillsborough gym for those three decades.
We asked him a few questions about his ups and downs at what he calls SBC Unit.
WHO IS THE MOST TALENTED BOXER YOU'VE SEEN AT YOUR GYM?
We had Naseem Hamed, but only for a short time. I'd probably have to pick Errol Spence Jr. He trained with us ahead of the Kell Brook fight at Bramall Lane (2017) and I remember watching him and thinking he was a boxer who did everything right. While he didn't necessarily do everything brilliantly, there seemed to be no weaknesses at all.
WHO WAS THE TOUGHEST?
Clinton Woods.I remember Tavoris Cloud (2009) hitting him with a left hook and it went through my mind whether I should have stopped the fight. But it went the 12 rounds. Clinton was really hard, he had some wars.
WHO WORKED HARDER THAN ANYBODY ELSE?
That would be Carl Wild, the boxing bin man.
He used to run in the morning, he would then go to work on the bins, and then train at the gym at night.
MOST MEMORABLE INDIVIDUAL?
Herol Bomber Graham, he was the nicest kid too. He is a legend.
Without Bomber, boxing in this area wouldn’t be what it is today.
I owe him so much as do so many other people.
It is hard to believe I first met him when we were both 16 years old.
What a journey it’s been for both of us, there have been ups and downs but we're still friends.
I have to admit that I was one of the people who advised him to retire at one point during his career yet he came back and fought Charles Brewer for a super middleweight world title (1998) on the undercard of Shannon Briggs v Lennox Lewis in Atlantic City!
That's me eating humble pie forever!
A MOMENT THAT TRULY STICKS OUT IN YOUR MIND OVER THESE 30 YEARS?
That's a tough one. It sounds strange, but going to Muhammad Ali's funeral (2016.) I was always an Ali fan and I just wanted to go to pay my respects. Even though I didn't get in, and there were thousands of people there, it was just nice to be a part of it.
WHAT HAS CHANGED MOST?
Social media: when I was boxing back in the day you had to go into the pubs and clubs and sell tickets.
Now you just have to post on social media and thousands see it.
ANY REGRETS?
Scott Westgarth's death (2018) - that and the other tragedies I have experienced.
MOST PROMISING YOUNGSTER.
You'd have to pick Teagn Stott. He has been training since he was a baby and is now in the GB squad and hopefully the first SBC kid to get to the Olympics, that's what he is aiming for.
THE FUTURE?
We'll keep on doing what we are doing for the next 30 years.
SO WHAT MAKES SBC SPECIAL?
The people in it, the boys, girls, men and women who have that special camaraderie.
It doesn't matter how big you are, how good you are, we are all in it together.
That's why we call it SBC Unit.