Andy Devaney
West Ham United has always been more than a football club in East London; it is part inheritance, part habit, part family silver. This week, that identity spilled beyond the pitch and into the boxing gym, the training ground and the community hub, as three Matchroom fighters with claret-and-blue loyalties turned up at The Foundry before what promises to be a noisy Saturday night at Copper Box Arena.
George Liddard, Jimmy Sains and Connor Mitchell are all heading into a significant evening under the lights, but before the gloves are laced and the nerves begin to twitch, they spent time with young people in Newham alongside West Ham United goalkeeper Alphonse Areola and club ambassador Anton Ferdinand. It was not a token appearance, nor one of those polished exercises that vanishes the moment the cameras do. It had sweat, conversation, drills, pad work and, crucially, purpose.
Liddard’s British middleweight and Commonwealth middleweight titles are on the line against Tyler Denny just a short hop from London Stadium, giving the whole thing a rather delicious sense of local pride. Add Brentwood Gym stablemates Sains and Mitchell to the bill against Derrick Osaze and Yuri Zanoli, and you have the ingredients for an East End fight night with real crackle to it.
A fight week visit with real substance
The setting was The Foundry, West Ham United’s community hub, where the club’s Foundation worked alongside Box-Up Crime and Beyond Food Foundation to give participants something more valuable than a passing afternoon’s entertainment. The wider aim was plain enough: offer positive pathways, build confidence, and use sport to push back against the kind of forces that can pull young lives in the wrong direction.
The session itself moved with the rhythm of proper activity rather than staged symbolism. There was pad work, fitness training and engagement with participants who were not there to be patronised. They were there to be included. The boxers and football figures joined in, listened, encouraged and, in the process, underlined a point that often gets buried under slogans: sport can steady a person before it ever makes them famous.
Out on the 3G pitch, the athletes learned more about the programmes being delivered through the Foundation and its partners. Then, after the physical work had built an appetite, the group headed into the E6 Kitchen for a nutrition workshop led with the Beyond Food Foundation. Nourishing meals were prepared, and the message was straightforward enough for any young athlete, or any adult with a functioning pulse, to understand: what you put into your body matters.
Areola offered insight into preparing for a big match, while the fighters spoke about discipline, routine and the unglamorous habits that sit behind every polished performance. It was an afternoon that linked boxing, football, nutrition and wellbeing without sounding like a government leaflet.
George Liddard and the pull of home
If anyone embodied the feeling of the week, it was Liddard. He is the one headlining. He is the one defending titles on home soil. And he is the one doing it in front of what should be a crowd thick with familiar accents and West Ham United affection.
Speaking after the session, Liddard said: “I grew up with West Ham birthday cakes, West Ham gifts… stocking fillers were definitely always West Ham gear.”
“I think boxing should be taught in schools, if I’m honest, when you grow up in a boxing gym, you learn to respect your elders and those around you.”
“To come down here… and be someone for these kids to look up to, it means the world to me. West Ham’s a family. It’s not just a club you support.”
“I was driving to the City game at the weekend and obviously drove past the Copper Box and I knew in a week’s time I’d be headlining there. It’s going to be packed out with West Ham fans come Saturday night and I can’t wait to see you all there showing your support and I can’t thank you all enough.”
That is the sort of connection promoters dream about and communities instantly recognise. Liddard is not borrowing the badge for effect. He sounds like a man who had it stitched into childhood.
Connor Mitchell and Jimmy Sains carry the same tune
Mitchell’s relationship with West Ham United is equally rooted in family and memory, which gives his presence on the card an added layer of meaning. He is not merely another boxer on the undercard. He is another local athlete shaped by the same culture, the same expectations, the same old East London language of resilience and belonging.
Mitchell said: “My whole family supports West Ham so since I was a baby, that’s all I’ve ever known, really.
“My dad boxed for West Ham and he was the only fighter to headline a card at the Boleyn Ground. I was actually on trial for West Ham as a kid, and I started boxing for a bit of strength, just because I was small, getting pushed off the ball a lot.
“I think it’s good for them [the participants] to hear from us because most kids are out partying on the weekend, but I’m at home, in bed at half nine thinking about training tomorrow and what I’m eating. There’s a lot of discipline in boxing and I think when kids have discipline, it helps them in all aspects of their life.”
“We’re all West Ham supporters and hopefully one day we’ll be fighting at a London Stadium.”
Sains, meanwhile, speaks like a man with club history practically stamped on the family documents.
He said: “West Ham’s in my blood, my nan’s grandad played for Thames Ironwork, my dad played for West Ham and my brother too.”
“It’s great to be here today because I always try to give back to the community and I often go back to amateur clubs and local gyms. I think everyone should be taught some sort of boxing in their life because it gives you discipline and routine.”
“I’m really privileged to have West Ham backing me and I’m looking forward to putting on a good show this Saturday.”
There is an honesty to that trio of voices. No corporate varnish. No needless chest-beating. Just a shared belief that sport, when handled properly, can sharpen people rather than simply entertain them.
Areola and Ferdinand underline the wider point
Areola, a goalkeeper by trade and a thoughtful one by temperament, brought a footballer’s perspective to the day, though his point would have been familiar to anyone who has ever found structure through training.
“Different gloves! It is always good to meet new people and good to inspire as well. We’re here to help young kids, the next generation, follow their dreams and reach their objectives. I think Boxing, Football and any sport is great for discipline. Sometimes you’re not always in a great place, but sport is good to help that, whenever I had opportunities when I was young, I was just always so happy.
“I always see so many West Ham fans, even when I am travelling, so it’s always good to meet them. The boys obviously have a fight, so we wish them all of the best. We might not be there in person, but we will all be close to them and following it.”
Anton Ferdinand, who knows perfectly well what clubs like West Ham United can mean to a young person trying to find direction, drew the thread together.
Ferdinand said: “It’s been fantastic to be around George Liddard, Jimmy Sains and Connor Mitchell, three top prospects and top fighters doing really well for us as a country. For them to give their time on fight week to come to show love not only to the Foundation and the Club, but to Box-Up which is a really important programme, to stop gang crime and that gives people an out. Today truly epitomised what the Foundation and The Foundry is all about.
“I understand and know how important sport can be to an individual, I’m living proof of it, to see the kids today so happy and thriving, it’s another great programme helping kids feel safe and grow in confidence.”
What Saturday night now carries
This is where the story becomes more interesting than a standard fight-week publicity stop. Saturday night at Copper Box Arena is still about punches, pressure and titles. Liddard still has Tyler Denny to deal with. Sains and Mitchell still have hard nights’ work ahead of them. The crowd will still come for impact and drama, not a sociology lecture.
But the atmosphere should now feel richer. These fighters did not spend the week hidden behind wraps and hotel-room silence. They stepped into the community that helped shape them. In return, they reminded East London that the road to a big night is built on routine, sacrifice and local ties stronger than a few slogans on a poster.
And that, in the end, is why West Ham United fits this occasion so neatly. The club’s name carries weight because it has always represented more than the immediate result. The same could be said for the best fight nights. The bell rings, somebody wins, somebody loses, and yet what lingers is the sense of where it all came from.
On Saturday, the card will be shown live on DAZN. Tickets are available through Matchroom Boxing. The action matters, naturally. But in East London, the meaning around it matters too.
