ALL YOUNG boxers dream of success in the ring, but not all can achieve it. Injury, bad luck, or whatever can get in the way.
So, it’s important for boxers to have a backup plan – which is where the DiSE (Diploma in Sporting Excellence) programme comes in.
Limehouse Boxing Academy’s gym in the Spotlight Centre, Bow, hosts the London branch of what is a national programme.
LBA head coach Mark Collings runs the London region, while there are centres all over the country, including Warrington, Brighton and Tamworth.
“This prepares them for life after boxing,” says Collings. “We give them more information for a career after boxing, outside boxing.
“We take 16 boxers every September, at the start of the school year. It’s England team boxers and ambitious novices. This is really an extension of the England squad.
“We bring in sports psychologists to talk to them. We give them medical knowledge. We give them the support and skills for a career other than boxing.
“We tell them you may not make it as a boxer, but with DiSE, you get a diploma equivalent to a BTEC and can still do some other role in boxing, or maybe something outside boxing.
“They learn how to be a coach, about strength and conditioning, about nutrition, how to be a judge if they want. Many boxers go on to work as a personal trainer, and this helps them.”
After a session at LBA, the boxers can sit down and watch a video replay of their training on a big screen. They can study their stance when they’re punching, or controlling the distance.
Adds Collings: “When I was boxing, there was nothing after boxing.
“This is like what they do at Ajax [football club]. Boxing used to be way behind football, but now we have this.”
DiSE boxers train at LBA two days a week – Monday and Tuesday. On this particular Tuesday, there’s no sparring – the boxers do a lot of that in their clubs – but skipping and technique work.
The idea is to supplement, not replace, what boxers do in their clubs.
Explains Collings: “We work with the coaches at their clubs. For example, Kelvin Wing comes in here to work with Billy Macey. Some famous big clubs have had boxers on the programme.”
On this day, half a dozen DiSE boxers are in the gym, along with an LBA boxer joining in for the experience.
They pair off to do technique work such as maintaining balance when punching, to get power into punches, and also controlling range.
Collings reminds the assembled boxers how Macey controlled the range brilliantly when winning the NAC final a few weeks earlier.
He says: “The commentator talked about how Billy stayed in the pocket, at just the right range to land punches and back out.” The boxers then practise doing just that.
Collings dishes out advice such as: “Don’t back off three or four steps to the ropes, because judges on all sides of the ring can see that and think, ‘The other boxer is controlling the action’.”
And Mark isn’t afraid to intervene when training doesn’t go to his liking. At one point, he says: “The pace dropped on that last exercise. This isn’t pro boxing – you don’t have 12 rounds to work with. In the amateurs, it’s three rounds, so you need to work all the time.”
Among those working hard are the Taylor twins, Johnny and Christopher, from the Banbury club in Oxfordshire. They make the two-hour journey to East London to enjoy the benefits of the DiSE programme.
Johnny, the older by nine minutes, reached the semi-finals of February’s Youth Championships, losing to Frankie Thompson (Marybone) at 67kgs.
Younger brother Christopher reached the Youth final at 63.5kgs, losing 3-2 to Jacob Naismith (Marybone). He had previously won silver in the Developments in October 2024, losing 4-1 in the 63.5kgs final to Samuel Lambert (Guildford City).
Says Johnny: “This is our second year in boxing, but our first full season. Boxing is everything for us. We want to have as many bouts as possible. We want to do lots of Box Cups, plus our own home show.”
No one can doubt their commitment. Explains Johnny: “We live 40 minutes from Banbury. We get the train here, it takes about two hours. After this [lunchtime session], we will go back home and train in our own gym in the evening!”
Standout name on the London DiSE programme is Billy Macey, although the recently crowned NAC 48kgs champion fits in comfortably with the others in the session; no big-headedness with this young talent..
“I just love boxing – I think about it all the time,” he says. “I watch a lot of old fighters. Roberto Duran is my favourite, and I love Julio Cesar Chavez Sr too.
“I look at the old Boxing Board record books, looking up the lists of amateur champions. I’m good friends with lots of boxers all over the place. I’m dedicated to boxing.
“I started boxing when I was around 13 or 14. I fell in love with the sport at a local gym. I had a white-collar bout there and [former ABA champ/world lightweight title challenger] Kevin Mitchell asked me, ‘Are you carded?’ I had no idea what that meant!
“He took me to West Ham and in my fourth bout I did a Box Cup in Devon and lost to Leighton Birchall, who’s won lots of titles [and is now a pro].
“I moved to Dagenham and had 24 bouts there, winning 22.
“They say change is as good as a rest, so I moved to Rainham. My coach is Kelvin Wing Jr.
“In the NAC final, in my corner was Kelvin and his dad Kelvin Wing Sr, also Mark Collings. Also in the Rainham gym is Bobby Ward, the last British boxer to beat Amir Khan in the amateurs.”
As is often the way with the lighter weights, bouts can be hard to come by – and those you do get are usually against top quality operators.
Explains Billy: “I’ve had only two club show bouts with all the others in championships and Box Cups.
“In January, I did the London Intermediate Championships at 51kgs to get a bout. I beat a 25-bout Lodge kid [Nasir Ahmed-Omari}. But 48kgs is my real weight. I walk around at 52-53kgs.”
To become national Elite champion, Billy unanimously beat both Lewis Cocksey (Jimmy Egan’s) in the semis and Yusuf Uddin (Fearless) in the final. That achievement earned him the England spot for the Tri-Nations in Cardiff at the end of May, but neither Wales nor Scotland had an opponent for him.
He did see action in June’s Haringey Box Cup, his third time in that prestigious event.
He recalls, “In my first Haringey, I boxed John Tom Varey, who won European medals, and I lost a tight one. In my second, also as a youth, I beat a good friend in Riley Murray, then in the final I beat Jayden Saker.
In this year’s Haringey event, Billy met Murray again, only in the final. It was another cracker, but this time Murray got the decision.
Now Billy, who has won 28 of 35 bouts, wants to have one more year in the amateurs. He says, “I want to do the NACs again, then turn pro. Next year the Commonwealth Games are in Glasgow, so I may do those. But the lowest weight in the [2028] Los Angeles Olympics will be 55kgs and that’s too big for me, so the Olympics are unlikely.”
