The Godiva Battleground night of white collar boxing in aid of Myton takes place on Saturday 28th April at the Alan Higgs Centre, Coventry.
Organisers Toby and Aaron both have experience of being in the ring as competitors and have set their sights on training people with little or no boxing experience to take part in their first fight!
This is the third event the pair have organised for charity, and chose to support Myton after Toby’s mum Ann received care from the Myton at Home nurses during her last few days.
She had been diagnosed with and received treatment for breast cancer on two previous occasions before being diagnosed with bone, blood and kidney cancer. These were treatable with chemotherapy, but when doctors found the cancer had spread to her brain she was told there was no cure. Although Myton’s services had been suggested by the Macmillan nurses, Ann was adamant she wanted to spend her final days in the comfort of her own home.
Toby saw how his mum’s wish to be at home at the end of her life had been granted and wanted to use the next boxing event to help Myton continue caring for people with life limiting and terminal illnesses.
Toby and Aaron are providing ten weeks of training for the amateur boxers in the run up to the main event. Aaron has competed as a mixed martial arts fighter as well as a boxer and now helps to train boxers in his spare time.
Toby took up kick boxing as a teenager as a way to lose weight and boost his confidence; he won several national titles and was ranked fourth in the country before turning his hand to boxing. He had hoped to go to the 2012 Olympics as a kickboxer but there wasn’t the funding for the sport.
Both Aaron and Toby work for West Midlands Police, which has its own boxing club and it was through this that they met and started organising white collar boxing events together.
Toby said:
For what Myton did for my mum – for our family – I wanted to give something back. She died at the start of December so I said to Aaron I wanted our next event to be for Myton. To fight in front of 600 people is a lot! We’re having a memorial belt, as well as a couple of trophies to give out on the night.
And Aaron added:
It’s a big ask for anybody to get into the ring. The hard part isn’t the fighting, it’s the work which goes into training, it’s actually walking out to the ring and realising you are going to be in a fight. White collar boxing is aimed at people who haven’t boxed before but want to try; we ensure everyone is safe on the night. It’s a friendly competition and we want everyone on the night to have a good time.
With 16 fights currently lined up for the night, people and businesses interested in supporting the event can help by sponsoring a fight, a fighter and donating raffle prizes.
Visit www.facebook.com/godivasbattleground to find out more about the event!