Things are looking up for Ringside Charitable Trust (RCT), the British charity built by Dave Harris that’s designed to help ex-boxers in need. Anthony Joshua, the former world heavyweight champion and one of the most recognizable faces in the sport, will soon be involved and British boxing royalty Joe Calzaghe has joined their team of ambassadors.
It’s been an awfully long road to get to this point.
Six years ago, in the former London offices of Boxing News, representatives from nearly all the leading British promoters gathered alongside other notable figures like Robert Smith of the British Boxing Board of Control, Barry McGuigan and John Conteh. They were there to listen to Harris present his vision for what was then called Ringside Rest and Care.
“I knew after that meeting that there was going to be a long road ahead,” Harris tells BoxingScene today.
Though he wasn’t expecting a standing ovation when he told his audience that the boxing fraternity needed to do more for ex-boxers that had fallen on hard times, Harris nonetheless figured there would be significant interest in what he had to say. He believed, at the very least, there would be a sense of unity, a desire – surely – to roll up sleeves and get things moving. Instead, from most, there were murmurs of discontent and doubts that a care home – which was and remains Harris’ vision – could be sustainable. Everyone stopped short of saying “it will never work” but the sentiment was overwhelming.
Harris could have given up at that moment. But he was determined to try even harder.
Hundreds of thousands have since been raised for RCT thanks to donations from the public and widespread charity events. There has been no real assistance, it must be noted, from any of the major promoters and what’s lacking is regular structural income which would guarantee a home’s future.
What puzzled Harris, his team, and the charity’s supporters the most, however, was the lack of interest from the boxers themselves. After all, the charity – which achieved registered status one year after that initial meeting – is designed to help those boxers should they ever need it. And plenty will.
“You hear lots of boxers say they got out unscathed,” Harris notes. “But the deterioration can occur years and decades after their last fight. Not every boxer will be affected but it’s more common than most people care to admit.
“I can’t go into details or give you specific names, at least not on record, but the list of famous boxers who are struggling gets longer each year. The decline in them can be quite sudden as well. I speak to many ex-boxers on a weekly basis and I can immediately think of several who are not in the same psychological shape as they were this time last year.
“Most are too proud to ask for help, some won’t admit there’s something wrong but all of them gave an awful lot of themselves to the sport of boxing.
“That is something we as an industry must address. I do wonder sometimes if the promoters think I’m a nuisance or if they think what I’m doing is in some way bad for the sport. Let’s all grow up and address the problem rather than acting like it doesn’t exist.
“I have nothing but admiration for promoters who make charitable donations. We get to hear all about it. Can I ask why Ringside has never received a charitable donation from them? Only Ben Shalom at Boxxer has done so.
“What I will tell you is that plenty of people know about our charity, people that don’t work in boxing, and they’re puzzled as to why more influential people in boxing aren’t doing more. There was even talk of making a documentary on it, an expose on the lack of aftercare. I don’t want any part of that, I love the sport, but we all need to do more before the world realizes how little we’re currently doing.”
The acquisition of Joshua could change things dramatically. After talking to one of his old amateur coaches (and RCT trustee) Johnny Oliver about the plight of ex-boxers, Joshua spoke of the need for a residential home while being interviewed for popular radio show Desert Island Discs. Joshua, who invests huge sums of money into the amateur code, is keen to leave a meaningful legacy.
“You have to admire him,” Harris says of Joshua. “We’ve always needed someone of Joshua’s profile to help us. We’re very grateful for all the help we’ve received but Joshua is the first active fighter with that crossover fame to do so. I can’t wait to talk to him about the future of Ringside.”
It’s been confirmed by Freddie Cunningham, Joshua’s manager, that the fighter is keen to assist RCT and a meeting will occur after his September 21 contest with Daniel Dubois. One hopes that others follow his lead.
Calzaghe, meanwhile, joins Conteh, Duke McKenzie, Frank Bruno, Johnny Nelson, John H. Stracey, James Cook, Hannah Rankin, Charlie Edwards and Michael Watson as an ambassador for the charity.
The Welshman will be inducted into the British Boxing Hall of Fame the weekend before Joshua’s shot at the IBF heavyweight title. It is 10 years since the first ceremony and it was Harris who orchestrated its birth. Tracking down ex-boxers for the Hall provided Harris with the inspiration to set up RCT.
“I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since the first one,” Harris chuckled. “They all said that would never work as well.”
Should you wish to help Ringside Charitable Trust you can do so HERE.
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