FORMER Central Area lightweight champion Jimmy ‘The Fist’ First last spoke to Boxing News in February in the changing room after his final dance. Content with what he had achieved the 43-year-old went out on a high beating Karl Sampson in a four-round contest.
Jimmy had only lost to top 10 fighters in Britain and at one stage was the country’s oldest champion. Not bad for having started boxing at 27.
First still hoped to be involved with boxing after his retirement and flirted with the idea of opening his own gym. That idea is now a reality. Located in Yorkshire in the penthouse of ROKD climbing gym, Brighouse Boxing Club officially opened its doors on June 17 and the club has already made an impact on its attendees.
“We’ve already got a thriving community of women, kids and men from all backgrounds,” First explains.
“We’ve got parents saying my child struggles with ADHD, anxiety and there’s women that struggle mentally and socially and we’re bringing people out of their shell. We’re bringing people together and that’s what our aim is. We’re having parents saying we can’t thank you enough already. It’s amazing. Its mega-rewarding.”
Boxing News asks First what makes the club different and why it stands out from the rest.
“We have got four, five very good coaches and we are not a boxercise place or just a keep fit place,” he replies.
The well-travelled First is now reaping the benefits of what he has learnt overseas, specifically now that he has moved into coaching.
“You know, we are boxing specific, and we do boxing fundamentals. I think what is different is the fact that I’ve travelled around the world and I’ve picked snippets from Cuba, from Mexico, from the Philippines, from Brazil, from Fuerteventura and I’ve brought all these different styles and we teach all these different fundamentals. We even incorporate a little bit of dance in there and a lot of footwork and boxing drills.”
“I’ve been over to Cuba twice, two weeks at a time, specifically for boxing,” First adds. “I bumped into Johnny Nelson in Havana, I met Nacho Beristain in Mexico City, and I went to the Romanza gym in Mexico City.”
The club seemed to be up and running in no time, but not without hard graft.
“All my coaches are good, handy men. Joiners, Welders etc,” he explained.
“We were doing it in our evenings because they work full-time as well, carrying all the punch bags up 10 flights of stairs was hard work.”
He emphasised that coaches Martin Golding-Smith, Kris Elvidge, Ted Leather and Edee Shaw have all chipped in from start to finish.
“We have even got the rope covers from Saudi Arabia. My mate Gavin Brammah brought them back. We’ve got them from Knockout Chaos, the 5v5 and the Ring of Fire undisputed. It’s unbelievable, it’s like a boxing museum.”
Not only do some iconic rope covers and fight posters feature in the gym, but so do some memories from First’s career, too.
“We’ve got pictures on the walls of the memories, and no one can take that away can they,” he adds.
BN asks First if he misses competing and how he has found the transition into coaching.
“I’m obviously always going to miss boxing and fighting but I had an exceptional career for the time that I started,” he replied.
“I’m really enjoying it and I’m still cornering people like Callum Simpson. I’ve got three professionals. I work with Dan Garber, Brandon Pickup and Keiran Tennant. I’ve got a guy that travels up from Shropshire, from Market Drayton. That’s two hours each way to come and train with me. He’s already said its reignited his career. We’ve got members from Leeds, we’ve got members from Wakefield coming over to train with us so it says something.”
First explains that super-middleweight Callum Simpson will visit the gym with his newly won British title, after recently de-throning champion Zak Chelli.
“I think he’s just got back off holiday, but he will be over to the gym definitely and will show his bling off to the kids,” explained First.
“We got Jasmina Zapotoczna over when she won her belt too. That was nice. It gives the women and the kids a bit of inspiration, it’s great.”
BN closes by asking First what his long-term goals are for the club. He replies, “We’ll have a stable of professional fighters and champions, that’s the long term.”