{"id":303330,"date":"2025-07-30T07:28:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T07:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/303330\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T07:28:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T07:28:11","slug":"boxing-club-for-young-people-opens-on-croft-lane-bradford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/303330\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing club for young people opens on Croft Lane, Bradford"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Father-of-four and coach Ismael Khan has been running his club, Untouchable Boxing Academy, for a number of years.\n<\/p>\n

\n It is about much more than just learning hooks, punches and footwork for those who attend Ismael\u2019s club.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ismael – who knows the harsh reality of prison life<\/a> first-hand – is on a mission to make sure young people stay on the right path.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"AA young girl practising at Ismael’s boxing club on Croft Lane (Image: Newsquest) They could be facing trouble at home, struggles at school, or even getting roped into crime.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of kids who\u2019ve been committing crime – some have been in prison,\u201d said Ismael,<\/a> who was jailed for four years following a fight.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019ve changed their lives by getting them in the gym, disciplining them, showing the right way around life instead of going out and doing crime.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen we tell kids what they can achieve in boxing like become a champion, go to England Boxing where Anthony Joshua went, get onto the Olympics.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"PolicePolice officers, Khunais Khan, and Cllr Kamran Hussain at Ismael’s club on Croft Lane (Image: Newsquest) \u201cIt\u2019s not only about the boxing, we\u2019re working with the kids about education.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t want them to go back on the streets and commit these offences.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve given them a better mindset to say ‘look, it\u2019s not worth it to be around these gangs, to carry this knife<\/a>, even if I don\u2019t stab no one carrying the knife<\/a> I\u2019m getting five years prison’.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn my days, when I was younger, I experienced this life. I\u2019ve seen it.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThese things are not worth it.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \"SomeSome of the equipment ready to be used by young boxers (Image: Newsquest) \u201cPeople think prison is easy. It isn\u2019t easy. I cried inside, I was upset, I was asking for my mother, my father, for forgiveness. When I came out I realised this isn\u2019t life for me. I changed my life completely.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf they\u2019re in the gym they\u2019re going to think about their fitness, health, their life and ambitions.”\n<\/p>\n

\n He shares the message alongside his son, Khunais,<\/a> who is a three times Yorkshire boxing champion.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"IsmaelIsmael Khan back when Khunais was at the start of his boxing career at six years old (Image: Newsquest) Ismael said: \u201cIt helps from a young kid where he\u2019s showing people he\u2019s in the gym, having that discipline.”\n<\/p>\n

\n After a long search for new premises, the club has moved into a building owned by Mr T\u2019s on Croft Lane.\n<\/p>\n

\n The sessions attract young people of all ages and\u00a0backgrounds\u00a0across the district.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"InsideInside the gym (Image: Newsquest) As well as his usual sessions, Ismael is running a summer camp throughout the school holidays where eligible children can get free meals.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ismael said: \u201cSome of the kids\u2019 parents, circumstances are very hard for them.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019m scraping everything from my own pocket and giving it to these kids.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n If parents or young people would like to find out more email\u00a0 ismael786@hotmail.co.uk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Father-of-four and coach Ismael Khan has been running his club, Untouchable Boxing Academy, for a number of years.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-303330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114941008432235573","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}