Shadow Sports Minister Dr Rosena Allin-Khan insists boxing can help curb London’s knife crime epidemic.
The Labour MP, who got into the sport as a student at Cambridge University, is convinced it gives youngsters a sense of belonging, vital to keeping them out of gangs.
“You don’t have to be in a gang. Come to a local club and get involved – now it’s more important than ever,” she said.
“So much of gang culture and violence is about a sense of belonging. It’s about telling young people that, if you can gain respect in the ring, you don’t have to get respect from stabbing on the street.
“You can gain from being part of a team, a community team, which trains together and boxes together.
“Boxing clubs are in the heart of their communities, it’s not just about boxing, it’s about family.
“It’s where local young people can come to make friends, engage with sport and get mentorship.”
Stabbings are up 16 per cent in London, with at least 51 people knifed to death in the capital this year.
And Dr Allin-Khan has first-hand experience of the carnage in her work as a junior doctor at St George’s Hospital in her Tooting constituency when Parliament is in recess.
She also trains at Balham Boxing Club where she is club doctor.
She added: “It’s about fitness, it’s about community cohesion and it’s also about getting young people off the streets.”
“But boxing clubs need to get the funding to continue this good work.
“There is a misunderstanding that boxing is only for young men, but it’s for anyone.”
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