Dubai-based boxing gym, Real Boxing Only (RBO), located in Al Quoz, is supporting one of the UK’s best amateur boxing Eastside Boxing Club.
The club has produced 21 National Champions since opening in 2007, and has been awarded ‘Overall Best Club’ numerous times at the Haringey Box Cup. Three fighters have joined Team GB the Olympic squad having trained at the club. “Boxing is the obvious reason we have joined forces,” says Michelle Kuehn, Managing Director, Real Boxing Only gym, Dubai, “but the real reason is that we are both passionate about the same thing: changing people’s lives.”
“Boxing does more for people than most know, many on the outside see the sport as violent and that it is unsafe, but for the disadvantaged children on the streets of Birmingham – with rise in knife violence, gang life and streets rife with poverty and crime – it is a refuge. It is life changing and that is what why we believe in backing a gym like Eastside and besides the talent pool they have produced is noteworthy,” comments Kuehn.
No pain, no gain: Real Boxing Only
She adds, “These kids have nothing, but a very short, unhappy future and Eastside is actively contributing to the community in Birmingham by providing discipline, respect and an avenue to a better way of life.”
Paul Counihan, head trainer and owner of Eastside Boxing Club, stresses the importance of training these youngsters and how learning to box can change their lives. “A lot of my team actually have done time in prison,” he says. “They have turned their life around through boxing, and that means we are able to communicate effectively and with respect to anyone that comes into our doors and wants to box, even if they can’t pay dues – we will never turn a kid down. Boxing is for everyone, and that is what Michelle believes and what brings our two gyms together – it is what the sport does for people and how we can help develop that across continents.”
The two gyms will work side by side in the two cities by raising the bar here in Dubai, and RBO is assisting with a full refurbishment in Eastside to make sure that gym has the same great facilities which RBO has access to here in Dubai.
“We forget how privileged we are in Dubai, and I am honoured to be able to join forces with Paul Counihan as we look to keep this relationship going for many years to come and see many more national champions walk through the doors of both gyms,” Kuehn states.
