Boxing Is Love Joins Delegation to Meet Minister for Sport, Stephanie Peacock MP at the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport

Boxing Is Love was honoured to be invited to join a select delegation of parliamentarians, boxing stakeholders, members of the APPG on Boxing, and former World Cruiserweight Champion Johnny Nelson in a meeting with Stephanie Peacock MP, Minister for Sport, to discuss the vital contribution boxing makes to communities across the United Kingdom.

Members of the APPG on Boxing, Boxing Is Love, senior stakeholders and former World Cruiserweight Champion Johnny Nelson are pictured at Westminster following a meeting with Stephanie Peacock MP, Minister for Sport, at the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport

The meeting, coordinated by Murray Stewart from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Boxing, provided a valuable opportunity for leaders across the sport to collectively articulate the social importance and return on investment that grassroots boxing clubs deliver. The Minister emphasised her commitment to supporting community sport and recognising the role boxing clubs play in improving physical and mental health outcomes, supporting young people, and strengthening local cohesion.

Speaking after the meeting, Spencer Lee Boya, CEO of Boxing Is Love, expressed appreciation for the organisation’s inclusion in the delegation:

“We were proud to stand alongside respected figures in the boxing community and parliamentary representatives in a meaningful discussion with the Minister for Sport. Being part of this delegation reflects the growing recognition of Boxing Is Love and the work we are doing to widen opportunity for young people through the sport.”

Spencer further reflected on the wider potential of boxing beyond its already well-established community value after the meeting:

"I think the real value in boxing being able to reach those more deprived in exactly how we can then use boxing to open doors and possibilities to those that need it the most. And here, I mean specifically that the young people that boxing can reach need knowledge that can help them make sense of the world around them, where they situate, and to understand the complex social, economic and political factors that are stratifying the society and creating the inequalities challenging them. 

This puts boxing into a perfect pioneering position among all other sports to use sport as a gateway to deliver academic knowledge through the specific sport, from a fresh perspective, and show the young people who have been let down by mainstream education that there is more than one way to learn.

You do not have to sit in a boring classroom listening to irrelevant histories of the Victorian era, but you can look at the formation of the Queensbury rules, how it was written by a 21 year old who has never boxed before, and to understand how social stratification in the Victorian era allowed such ideas to be transmitted, and translate the understanding to the modern world. 

Young people don't lack imagination, they lack hard, relevant knowledge that can be used to back up their arguments and adults who are willing to listen to their opinions. Academic studies may not be their priority, but it is absolutely key to help them develop as a person. There is so much that boxing can do, but there is only so much. What motivates me to work in boxing is trying to figure out that boxing can take kids off the streets, but where to."

Boxing Is Love looks forward to future engagement with policymakers and sector leaders to ensure that the voices of community clubs and young people remain at the forefront of national sport policy conversations.