Boxing Champs Fight Against Knife Crime

_{Isaac Chamberlain pauses to listen to his trainer in the middle of a brutal training session (Photo: Jack McRae)}

Isaac Chamberlain spent the morning in a punishing session in a stuffy basement gym ahead of what should have been a British title fight against Mikael Lawal. To his visible frustration, his opponent has postponed the bout on medical grounds. He is now fighting Dylan Bregeon tonight at the famous York Hall.

“What a fucking life, man,” Chamberlain sighs as he drives me and his 18-month-old son, Zion, through the streets of Brixton to a café in Camberwell.

It has been quite the life for the 29-year-old cruiserweight boxer, who only found boxing following the fatal stabbing of his 16-year-old cousin Alex Mulumba by members of a rival gang.

“Miguel’s [boxing gym] shaped everything,” he says as his tone becomes serious. Chamberlain credits Delroy, the gym’s janitor, for helping him see the reality behind the drug kingpins with their shiny cars and jewellery. He explains: “You’re seeing them but you’re not seeing the repercussions.”

The repercussions are often deadly. Last year there was, on average, more than one fatal stabbing a week in London – 14 of the victims were teenagers.

Boxing has long been credited as an escape and Adam Azim also speaks with urgency of becoming world champion and building a safer community.

“It’s about getting people off the street,” the 20-year-old super-lightweight boxer says – eight times in the space of five-and-a-half minutes.

Like Chamberlain, Azim knows the devastation of knife crime. “I’ve seen [people going down a path of criminality] throughout the years. I’ve seen it in my friends and when I was young my uncle got murdered.”

Aged just five, Azim was unable to fully understand the world which led to his uncle’s death. He just wanted to box. Although, as he has matured, he has seized his role as a leader in the fight against knife crime, saying: “I realised boxing was the best place to get people off the streets.”

Azim draws from his family’s loss as his motivation to help young people. “A lot of people get killed from knife crime. It’s happening every single year and not just in [my hometown] Slough. I want to fund gyms and activity centres across the country.”

Azim knows the importance of finding a passion and focus at a young age. “When I was growing up, I just focused on boxing because I wanted to achieve a goal. Boxing kept me off the street.”

Despite their shared dream of becoming world champion, Chamberlain was nearly not as lucky.

He lived in poverty as a child and often went to bed hungry. So, for £10, the timid boy would cycle across Brixton picking up and dropping off drugs.

Chamberlain remembers almost being caught by police carrying a bag of cocaine. “My heart just stopped and then I ran for my life. I went home feeling sick, got in the shower and there was coke all down my leg. I was thinking, ‘Fuck this. I’m not doing this.’ I broke my phone, got out of contact with [the drug dealers], then went back to the gym.”

Today, Chamberlain is an ambassador for Gloves Up Knives Down, a charity that encourages young people to take up boxing as an escape from the streets. He explains the need to create father figures for young boys to keep them safe.

“That’s why I’m so close with my son.” He looks lovingly at Zion, who devours a mouthful of pasta. The contrast between the lethal, powerful boxer with the soft, attentive father couldn’t be greater. He explains: “You need somebody to guide you down the right path.”

Like Azim, Chamberlain speaks of his dream to not only become world champion, but also serve as an example: “If God gives you this talent, you have to find a way to give back somehow. Everyone has their own version of what boxing is for me. They need to find something that they love and stick at it.”

With significant help from Zion, Chamberlain finishes his lunch and looks up from the empty bowl when I ask if he will become world champion.

“That’s why I’m doing all this. Every day, every step, to inspire everyone,” he smiles as he bounces Zion on his lap, “and this little man will be there to witness it all.”