The East Midlands: A Season of Champions

It happened over two days that felt longer than they were, under the white bright lights of the Arena  in Kettering and the charged loud cheers  of a crowd that knew what was at stake. By Sunday, 19th of October, the East Midlands had given the nation nearly a dozen new champions — a procession of fighters, men and women, lightweights and heavyweights, each with their own quiet story written across the bruises.

Three from Team Shoebox. Two from Leicester Lightning. Dylan Brown from Trinity. Tzahi Sadiq from Far Cotton. Their names will soon be spoken in gym corners and and whatsapp groups, places where victory still smells faintly of sweat and damp leather.

Tommy from Leicester Lightning fought like a someone trying to rewrite his own story. The crowd knew it. They rose with him, breath held, watching his grit and resolve take shape with every exchange. By the final bell, he had stolen something intangible from the room admiration, perhaps, or hope.

Jessie Chambers of Athena gave her coach, Paul Smith, a reason to have a tear in his smiling face in that small, knowing way that comes from years of seeing the grind pay off. There was something almost tender in the way she boxed a mixture of control and defiance that lingered long after the applause stopped.

Then there was Destiny Palmer of Chesterfield ABC. She won again her second year running  delivering a standing eight count that left no doubt. The medal, heavy and cold, caught the light as she celebrated with her father. Her stepmother, overcome, lost her voice and her composure, clapping until her hands hurt. These are the moments that don’t make the scorecards but stay with you.

Francesca “Flufy” from South Normanton was another who left her mark. She fought through each round with a kind of stubborn courage, and when her hand was lifted, she let out a scream that shook the air — a sound of release, of everything she had carried into the ring and finally let go. In her corner stood two giants of the sport, Gordon Statham and Joe Elliott, watching with the quiet pride of men who have seen generations come and go, each one carrying the same fire.

And finally, Wisdom from Prospect, the heavyweight. Under the watchful eye of his coach, Asgar Tahir world class coach to champions, he moved with the calm assurance of a man who knows what discipline costs and what it gives back.

Yours truly was there too  in the ring, beneath the lights, short sleeved white shirt and steady hands, working toward Grade A referee status. It is a strange thing, to be part of the story while standing outside it, to feel the rhythm of a bout in your chest and still be the one charged with keeping order.

When it was all done, medals were handed out solid, weighty reminders of the hours no one sees. The East Midlands stood proud again, its boxers shaped by the same things that have always built champions here: quiet resilience, honest work, and the belief that nothing worth keeping ever comes easy