A YOUNG boxer is smiling again after world champion Amir Khan stepped in to replace stolen equipment that his grandma had bought for him as a birthday present.
Aaron Gray, aged 14, was left devastated when thieves took his punchbag, gloves and skipping rope, from the garage next to his home in Glynne Street, Farnworth.
The theft, just days before he fights in the final of the North West Area Schoolboy Championships at Gorton, would have severely hampered his preparations, but when Khan read about his plight in The Bolton News, he immediately decided to help.
Khan said: “I felt sorry for him when I read the article and said we had better help him.
“I didn't know he was from my Gloves Gym until we got in touch with him, but I would have been happy to help any young boxer.
“He is dedicated and if that had happened to me when I was young I would have b e e n devastated.
He is in a final and it will help him prepare for that.”
The equipment had only just been put up in the garage to help Aaron prepare for the final, his second in successive years.
“I am up against the same boxer who beat me last time, but I have improved a lot since I moved to the Gloves Gym and I have won my last three fights,” said the Harper Green School pupil.
“It is really great of Amir to do this and it will help in my preparations. I train three times a week at the gym but practise every night at home.
“Amir is a great role model and I would like to follow him as a professional.”
Aaron Gray, aged 14, was left devastated when thieves took his punchbag, gloves and skipping rope, from the garage next to his home in Glynne Street, Farnworth.
The theft, just days before he fights in the final of the North West Area Schoolboy Championships at Gorton, would have severely hampered his preparations, but when Khan read about his plight in The Bolton News, he immediately decided to help.
Khan said: “I felt sorry for him when I read the article and said we had better help him.
“I didn't know he was from my Gloves Gym until we got in touch with him, but I would have been happy to help any young boxer.
“He is dedicated and if that had happened to me when I was young I would have b e e n devastated.
He is in a final and it will help him prepare for that.”
The equipment had only just been put up in the garage to help Aaron prepare for the final, his second in successive years.
“I am up against the same boxer who beat me last time, but I have improved a lot since I moved to the Gloves Gym and I have won my last three fights,” said the Harper Green School pupil.
“It is really great of Amir to do this and it will help in my preparations. I train three times a week at the gym but practise every night at home.
“Amir is a great role model and I would like to follow him as a professional.”
Comment