蜜芽传媒

Former World Champion boxer Tony Bellew speaks about how 'Weapons Down, Gloves Up', a project set up in Liverpool, aims to reduce knife crime and help young people in his community.

As an ambassador for the charity, alongside fellow Liverpudlian and UFC fighter Molly 鈥淢eatball鈥� McCann, they help support young people to receive qualifications, including First Aid certifications and CSCS cards, which allows them to begin work on civil engineering construction sites.

When asked about his work with the Liverpool based charity 鈥淲eapons Down, Gloves Up鈥� by 5 Live presenter Nihal Arthanayake, Tony said: 鈥淲ith Weapons Down, Gloves Up, we are getting young people qualifications, and making them job ready. They鈥檙e getting a much brighter future than they have right now, sitting there doing nothing.鈥�

When asked about the reason Tony wanted to get involved with the charity, he said: 鈥淭here's nothing that these kids are experiencing that I haven鈥檛 experienced. I've been broke, I've been jobless, I've been permanently excluded from school.鈥�

鈥淏ut throughout all of that, the one thing that I kept in myself was self-belief. That one day I鈥檇 become that world champion. That dream allowed me to stick to a certain set of values that made it possible for me to get all sorts of jobs in the meantime.鈥�

鈥淭here were no programmes like this for me when I was young. If a scheme like this would have been in place, it would have helped me so much. I鈥檇 have had a backup plan."

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