Sport Relief kicks off on Friday (23 March) at 7pm

It is fully recognised the work our membership undertakes to tirelessly to provide opportunities for boxers of all abilities in an affordable, safe, evenly matched and regulated manner every day and we anticipate this event will promote this work to a wider audience and highlight the need for matches to be properly matched, have medical support and be fully regulated.

Furthermore, it shows that people of any skill and ability can be coached to learn the boxer’s art of delivering scoring shots and to defend themselves. England Boxing is proud of the sport’s heritage and wants to illustrate more ways for people to get involved in the sport in a safe and regulated way.

Sport Relief and its parent charity Comic Relief have provided significant funds to boxing clubs and to boxing initiatives throughout the country. This has provided a lot of support to local communities. This is the sport’s chance to return this support and strengthen our overall relationship.

Since late 2017, England Boxing has worked closely with the BBC, Sport Relief, the boxers and local clubs to ensure that the bouts are well managed and delivered under England Boxing’s safety guidelines, medical regulations, boxing rules, coaches and officials.

The celebrities have been monitored by England Boxing Performance Coach Mick Driscoll, who has assessed them and worked closely with them during their training programmes. All of the celebrities have been through a medical by an England Boxing & BBC approved doctor, have been registered on the Vault and have learnt how to train and compete in accordance with England Boxing standards.

Some of our clubs have played a big part of this project and England Boxing wants to thank them and their coaches for their time, support and work with the celebrities.

England Boxing has also launched their new and improved Club Finder which will help direct people inspired by the show to our registered clubs.

Driscoll added: “Sport Relief shows that you can take normal people and develop their boxing skills through our club system. There’s a lot of confusion in our sport about the different ways to get into boxing and I believe it’s important to make sure people are taking part in boxing through registered clubs with the correct rules and medical provisions.

“The boxers are doing well and I think they’ve enjoyed experiencing how close a family boxing is. The relationship between a coach and a boxer is quite different to most sports. In boxing you become a role model for your athlete and they put all their trust in you. The coach has to know their boxers so well because they need to recognise what support their boxer needs in training and during the bout. The coaches that have been working with Sport Relief have demonstrated this role perfectly.”