FEATURE: It's 70-up for Northampton Amateur Boxing Club

Northampton Amateur Boxing Club (NABC), which is based in Ash Street off the Mounts, was founded in 1953 and is the oldest amateur club in the town with hopes of turning pro-am by 2024.

One of those behind the beginnings of the club was John Morris, who at the time was an 18-year-old journalist at the Chronicle & Echo and went on to become the first sports editor at BBC Radio Northampton and general secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC).

Jason Cameron-Wilson of the club has very fond memories of Morris, something reflected in the glowing tributes paid following his death on December 18, last year.

“John was a very, very dear friend and he is a huge loss to boxing,” said Cameron-Wilson. “There simply wouldn’t be a club without John.

"He was part of the opening energy of the club and getting people involved, including me."

“He was an English gentleman, but you always knew exactly where you stood with him. Everything was morally and ethically right with John.”

Morris was very instrumental in boxer welfare, and he ‘put his career on the line to help Michael Watson’ after Watson suffered terrible injuries in a super middleweight fight at Tottenham Hotspur’s White Hart Lane stadium in September 1991, and for which Watson later sued the BBBoC for negligence for failing to provide the necessary medical care ringside.

Morris was instrumental in the careers of many boxers and was on first-name terms with many world champions.

In the late 1950s, he travelled to America where a young, previously, unheard-of boxer noticed him and offered him an interview – the boxer’s name was Cassius Clay!

Although Morris’s career took him all over the world, the club remained close to his heart, every year he would make significant financial donations to the club.

After retiring in 1999, he became President and was ‘overwhelmed and happy’ with how the club was progressing.

The boxing scene in Northampton is currently in particularly good health, with Far Cotton Boxing Club’s Chantelle Cameron putting the town firmly on the map by becoming the UK’s first undisputed female world champion.

Kieron Conway and Eithan James of Team Shoe-Box are also gaining ever-growing reputations for themselves in the sport, and NABC hope to follow Shoe-Box into the professional ranks by January 2024, a transition that the club hoped to have already achieved but which was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Part of the reason for wanting to change to professional status is a desire on the club’s part to keep senior elite boxer and middleweight Toby Bassett, and son of coach Andy Bassett as a part of the club.

Toby said: “I aim to stay as an amateur for another two years maximum, gain more experience, then turn professional. My goal is to win a British Championship.”

Should Toby be successful, he would follow in the footsteps of others who have achieved success both whilst at the club and after leaving and turning professional elsewhere, including middleweight James Shelton and Yousuf Ibrahim – a bantamweight.

Andy Bassett said: “Success brings success. With Toby etc, we’re hoping to take the club forward and encourage more kids to come down.”

Andy feels the future is bright for NABC and boxing generally in Northampton.

He said: “There is a feelgood factor in local boxing – all clubs are producing good boxers.”

Looking ahead to the 70th anniversary of the club, Andy explained: “We plan to put on a bit of a show.

"We’ve got a dinner show planned, we want to get businesses involved and make it a ‘thing for the town’ and get out into the community and make ourselves more well known.

"We’re looking at venues and hope to announce details soon.”