NEMESIS, the well known London boxing club, has closed its doors for the last time. The coronavirus pandemic had made the gymโs future unviable. Itโs great shame that such a successful club has had to close, and the fear is that others will have to follow suit.
To re-open, it would be difficult to meet the required protocols and, most significantly, the gym would only be able to have eight boxers in at a time, due to the necessary precautions around social distancing. โI would have 30 kids [before]. That paid the rent, three days a week. Now I can only have eight kids at a time, it wasnโt sustainable,โ coach Tony Pettitt explained.
โI couldnโt do it, itโs just too much, Iโd had a back operation in February, which was a big surprise, although Iโve always needed a knee op,โ he added. โWhen the back was gone, the knee started hurting more. Iโve got to start thinking of myself a little bit, with that and Covid.โ
Even if it could have carried on, he would have had to bring on someone to take over from him. โTruthfully I think itโs run its course. It was a real hard decision to make,โ Pettitt said. โI donโt really want to give someone the commitment Iโve had to give and then take over their life, if you know what I mean. I know that every boxing coach out there is doing the same thing. It grabs you.
โItโs a very thankless task. Itโs not just me that has this thankless task, there are thousands and thousands of boxing coaches out there that run clubs or are part of clubs, that give their time for nothing and go out there and sacrifice loads for young kids.โ
But in this case he decided that, โIf I canโt give 100 per cent, I wouldnโt do it.โ
He reflected, โIโm happy with that and that decision now because of the messages Iโve had from boxers and people that have just passed through the gym. Itโs lovely what theyโve said. Iโm looking at it and thinking crikey we did do it right. So what would be the point of trying to continue and not really give it 100 percent? If I canโt do that I think I would be doing them an injustice.โ
It has given him a chance to step back and take stock of what the club has accomplished. โIโm massively into the development of young people. For me it wasnโt really ever about producing champions on champions. It was great while I did, donโt get me wrong, and having fantastic memories of going to different Box Cups and ABA finals, Schoolboy finals stuff like that, winning titles – absolutely fantastic, you couldnโt get a better feeling. A great feeling of achievement,โ Pettitt [inset with Henry Powell] said.
โBut equally,โ he noted. โIn my heyday when I had five, six, probably seven kids and a girl all on GB and England and they were boxing in tournaments and I walked through my local town centre and one of the lads [whom he used to train] was there with his missus. Heโd stopped boxing. Heโd had three bouts with me and he stopped me and he introduced me to his missus and said, โYou know what, this man saved meโฆ If I didnโt go there and he didnโt look after me, Iโd be in prison now.โ And if Iโve got to be honest with you, my own sons were winning ABA titles then, and that was equal to that if not better. You realise you are doing something decent. We did always have a good family atmosphere.
โWhen we first opened we had a tin and said just chuck your two quid in there. If they didnโt pay, I didnโt take no notice and Iโve always been like that. If the rent was ever short I would make it up.
โFor me it was important that they developed as human beings as well as boxers. The championships and the medals all came later on.โ
Terry Gillam and many others were instrumental in the development of the club. โMy own son Lewis, my other son Jake, Elliot Whale who was with me since he was nine years old, until he turned pro. Theyโre my achievements in the sense of boxers who have come through [but] the list is endless, the ones who have got to championship finals, won them, come second or whatever, Iโm very, very proud of it. Itโs not like West Hamโs but it ainโt bad,โ Tony said.
He recalled what was probably his proudest moment too. โI knew when I first started I needed to learn off of somebody. So I went to various places and nicked ideas off different coaches. I went to West Ham to go sparring when Lewis was boxing. He used to spar Billy Morgan, Luke Gibb used to spar Jack Kerr and Dudley OโShaughnessy. For a month we used to come out of there with our arses kicked, beat up. We was there once a week and all of a sudden it started to turn and we started beating West Ham in the London finals,โ he said. โMicky May turns up at my gym with four boxers to come sparring and I said, โMick I canโt believe youโve come out.โ He said Iโve never been to another personโs gym all the time Iโve been at West Ham. I just want to see what youโre doing.
โI was thinking, โIโve made it, Iโve actually made it!โโ
A similar thing happened with Fisherโs Steve Hiser. โTwo of the amateur boxing gods that are coming to my gym to see me!โ Pettitt remembered with justifiable pride. โIโve had a very, very enjoyable time. Itโs given me some of the best times of my life. And some real nervous breakdowns.โ
But this closure should be a warning for the amateur sport. โI would imagine that I might be one of the first of many that are going to fall by the wayside because of this. Because weโre governed by the amount of kids we can have in there. It was just never, ever going to work,โ Pettitt said heavily.
There has never been a better time to find a way to support your local club. The sport needs it.