‘Boxing Saves Lives’: The Ballyshannon making a difference in Luton

JP Smith was working for a social housing association when the realities of the world around him hit.

The Ballyshannon man, who has been living in Luton for 24 years, realised just how easily vulnerable youngsters can fall prey to gang life.

Just before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, he formed Boxing Saves Lives. The non-profit organisation, which is registered as a charity, now employs six coaches and works alongside Bedfordshire's Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit, youth offending teams, youth intervention specialists, charities who deal with exploitation and schools.

Smith combined a love of boxing and a knowledge of young people to create an organisation that, through the sweet science, shows a way to tackle crime, poor mental health, loneliness and exclusion.

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“We want to work with people who are at risk of exclusion, people who are low on confidence, people who have mental health issues,” Smith says.

“We come in and we do the programme with them. Basically, we work with them as a team. We work with about 300 children a week.

“As much as we think that young people are safe at home, they’re not all.

“I figured that a lot of these young people wouldn’t be safe at home. We could use the power of boxing to improve their lives and get them into a safe place. I thought it would be just one-to-one support for a small number of people, but we got in to one school and it all just grew.”

JP Smith. Photo: Joe Boland (North West Newspix)

Smith became aware of the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre, which was set up in 2019. In the UK ‘county lines’ is a form of criminal exploitation where criminals befriend children and manipulate them into drug dealing.

He was 35 when he first went through the door of a boxing club, the Hockwell Ring Amateur Boxing Club in Luton.

“I was 18 stone, my mental health was bad. It was absolutely incredible,” he says. “After that, I started going to York Hall to see all the shows and I had a real interest in boxing.”

A native of Ernedale Heights in Ballyshannon, Smith’s mother, Carmel Brady, still lives at home. Home isn’t far away though; Smith has retained his accent and he keeps an ear out for Aodh Ruadh’s results.

In 1999, he was doing a course at college in Letterkenny when he decided it was time for a change.

He says: “I decided to pop over and see my brother for a month and I’m still there. I have no regrets at all.”

Smith is well versed in Luton’s boxing traditions.

Billy Schwer was the IBO World lightweight champion in 2001 and he also fought for the WBU World lightweight title while Graham Early is a former British and Commonwealth lightweight champion.

One of Smith’s fellow coaches at Boxing Saves Lives - which also runs boxing programmes for women - will fight for a world title in November.

Tysie Gallagher is 6-1 and fights Segolene Lefebvre for the WBO World super-bantamweight title on November 24 in Douai, France.

“Luton has a really rich history of boxing,” Smith says. “A lot of families in Luton are behind boxing which makes what we do a little easier. We have seen a massive difference in the young people.

“We’ve have six coaches in the programme now, four of them full-time. We work all across Bedfordshire and we are hoping to move into Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.”

The Hockwell, Luton Town and Ring Craft boxing clubs are central to the work of Boxing Saves Lives, who work closely with the Bedfordshire police  .

“I love what we do,” Smith says. “Boxing is making a huge difference. We’re working in communities and we’re well supported by the clubs in Luton.

“The idea is to work with as many young people as possible. We’re working with schools and we want to filter into clubs now. This can be win-win for boxing clubs too.

“We’re trying to build a bridge to a better life.”