GLASGOW City Boxing Club is sending 20 amateur young boxers to the National Novice Championships in Motherwell this weekend.

The three-year-old club has trumped their competitors with the number of amateur boxers making the trip, with head coach Gary Porter explaining it’s the youngsters hard work that has made the club so successful.

Based in Kynoch Boxing Gym in Kinning Park, Gary and his co-coach Barry Murphy train kids from as young as five, right through to young men advancing their amateur career, all looking for a home away from home in the Southside gym.

Gary said: “You have these clubs that are much bigger sending only three or four boxers to the championships. We have about 20 going to the championships, which really shows how much work we put in here.

“To be able to train up these youngsters is fantastic, especially when you see that determination in them.”

With training starting from such a young age, both Gary and Barry instil a strong ethic that extends even outside of the sport.

Barry said: “It isn’t like any other sport. You can’t wake up one day and say, ‘I think I’ll play some boxing today’. If you want to play a sport, that’s what football or tennis is for.

“It teaches discipline, not just in boxing but also in their normal life.”

Gary and Barry are both devoted to the job of training up the next crop of boxers, going unpaid in their work to make sure trainees are supported, working inbetween their day jobs to keep the club running.

Gary said: “People are shocked we do this unpaid but the reward is seeing and helping these young guys build up their skill.

“We both do it because we want to see them do well. Travelling all across the country with them – from Nairn to Motherwell – it’s building up reputation, not only for us but for our young boxers too.”