Spencer Lee Boya and Shelly Lee appointed to lead Boxing is Love

We're excited to announce new leadership at Boxing is Love as we enter our next chapter of growth and impact.

Where we started

Boxing is Love was founded by Ben Amanna, CEO of BOXRAW in 2017 and through a variety of volunteer mission trips across the United States, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa, we upskilled local coaches, shared nutrition information and equipped young boxers with gear.

Over the years, we reached 3000+ young people, delivered 700+ training hours, gave away £500,000+ worth of equipment, and engaged 300+ volunteers.

As we grow rapidly, we are extremely glad to welcome Spencer Lee Boya and Shelly Lee, who will step into the role of Chief Executive Officer and Director of Programmes respectively.

We sat down with Spencer and Shelly and asked them a few questions about themselves.

About Spencer and Shelly

Spencer Lee Boya, FRSA

What brought you to Boxing is Love?

SLB: I was quite a stereotypically introverted arts and humanities child while I grew up. However, I have also been, contradictorily, fascinated by combat in all its forms since a very young age, whether it is watching martial arts movies, reading about military history, or learning about international relations.

I moved from the UK to Hong Kong between the ages of 12 and 18, where I started boxing because the first and only world champion that Hong Kong has ever produced, Rex Tso, opened a boxing gym near where I lived. I became instantly drawn to the sport, but boxing was not very popular in Hong Kong.

As I moved back to the UK for university, I became deeply involved with the sport and the boxing community. I was the President of the Cambridge University Amateur Boxing Club, where I first got into contact with Ben Amanna for the purpose of kit sponsorship for the club. Throughout this journey, I learnt more about Ben's vision for BOXRAW and Boxing Is Love, and I deeply resonated with it.

Out of serendipity, and given my previous background in the charity space and my academic interests, I decided to take on the role to lead Boxing Is Love.

Shelly Lee

SL: I was never really sporty, and back in school my nickname was “Obese". Back then, I’ve mostly spent my time playing the clarinet, composing and focused on studying and writing about the internet, digital culture, and music.

I started boxing in 2020 as a pad holder for Spencer, and over time I ended up as an unsolicited sparring partner, keeping up with boxing wherever I could. I’d say my relationship with boxing is about 40% actually doing it and 60% reading and learning about all the projects and stories around it. I first discovered Wacquant’s Body and Soul and was captivated by how he writes about the ties between boxing and the lives within Chicago’s Black ghetto, and at some point he became a scholar-turned-boxer who thought of abandoning academia to “turn pro” just to stay with his friends and coach there.

There must be something deeply compelling in the boxing community to create such a pull. The more I read about the sport and its intersections with timely social issues, from crime and masculinity to historical figures, the more I started to wonder why there wasn’t already a dedicated space that looked at boxing in this way. I ended up creating a magazine with Spencer, exploring everything socially, historically, and economically relevant to boxing, which brought me to Boxing is Love.

To me, Boxing is Love is the opportunity to share all these great ideas and most importantly, to connect it to real projects and real lives through a sport that means so much to so many.

What is your vision for Boxing is Love?

SLB: I come from a fairly unique background for someone who works in the boxing industry. I was a classically trained musician, but my academic focuses were in Sociology, Politics, and Economics, in particular the intersections between class, race, and education. I have always keenly realised just how intertwined boxing is with the subjects above, and the incredible but badly overlooked contributions that boxing has made to our society.

Ultimately, I want Boxing Is Love to be the pioneer in the sports charity space, where we use boxing as a channel to help disadvantaged young people re-engage with education in a way that is empowering and relevant. I want boxing to be at the centre of discussions on wider social issues, whether that is equal pay, social cohesion, or tackling knife crime. I want to take boxing out of its bubble and lead a movement in sports charities to take that extra step. Yes, boxing can do so much, but there is only so much that it can do.

SL: My vision is to create a space for anyone interested in the structural and social dimensions of boxing, a community where people can exchange ideas and contribute to real-world projects that can make the best use of the sport’s power to bring education, opportunities, a safe space and community to individuals and places that might otherwise be overlooked

Ultimately, this would change the way boxing is perceived by the wider public. It may be a long journey, but I hope to reach a point where people no longer respond with questions like “What’s worse than teaching problematic kids to box?” or “Boxing is a primitive sport. Combat sports are morally outdated.” I just want people to see there’s so much more to boxing, it’s not all about going pro or just fighting.

Tell me something that fascinates you about boxing.

SLB: When I first started developing the programmes for young people, I was mesmerised by how dense academic subjects can be taught through boxing in such effortless and engaging ways.

My favourite lesson in the curriculum that I wrote is called "Who Decides What's Right and What's Wrong?". In this lesson, we looked at the 1988 Olympic scandal between Roy Jones Jr. and Park Si-Hun, where, through this one single Olympic bout, we got groups of young people who are labelled as being "disengaged in school" debating international relations during the Cold War, the economic and political history of South Korea, and the social stratification system back in the Victorian era.

I really wish that I could have learnt history in such a fun and relatable way when I was in school.

SL: I’ve realised boxing comes up a lot more than I expected, and more people have some kind of connection to it than I thought. Sherlock Holmes’ creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, was an amateur boxer who was even invited to referee the James Jeffries vs. Jack Johnson heavyweight championship fight. Politician Nick Griffin was once knocked out in a heavyweight contest, and as the student newspaper wrote at the time, “it may have contributed to his eventual 2:2 and subsequent political opinions.” I also spoke to someone whose grandfather once sparred with Jack Johnson, broke his arm, but was too scared to tell his parents, so he didn’t box for long after that.

Everything I come across about boxing is honestly just so fun and exciting to learn about.