Ex-champ Richie’s a big hit

Former boxing champion Richie Woodhall proved a knockout hit when he launched a new club for South Staffordshire youngsters to try out the sport.

The former super-middleweight world champion turned commentator dropped into Codsall Leisure Centre to mark the official opening of the club last night.

The sporting star, who won 26 of his 29 professional fights, was greeted by an array of official guests and keen youngsters wanting to learn their jabs and their hooks.

Organisers say they hope the club, which was set up at the request of young people, will help keep children off the streets and make them healthier at the same time.

And that is something 40-year-old Richie, of Telford, agrees with.

“Boxing is very important for a number of reasons,” he said. “We have a national problem at the moment with kids hanging around the streets and this can work to get them doing something productive. Boxing is also an Olympic sport and with 2012 coming up there could even be a future Olympian produced from this club.”

In recent times boxing has seen a surge in popularity thanks to the success of British fighters like Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe, with fans waking in the early hours to catch their fights on TV from Las Vegas.

“Boxing has always had an appeal to a certain amount of people. I’m sure when Muhammad Ali was around my grandmother may have been listening on the radio to his fights but the sport is coming back again and has more popularity. People such as Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe, who I know well, have been flying the flag abroad and doing well and it has a knock-on effect on the kids,” he said.

And the keen West Bromwich Albion fan says he thinks a lot of his sport’s popularity could be down to the fact its stars are still so accessible to their fans, perhaps not the case now with many professional footballers.

He added: “People can relate to boxers, they are more like the people next door, very down to earth. I’m not saying all but a lot of footballers can be difficult to speak to whereas Joe Calzaghe, who has been in the sport 18 years and is an absolute legend, couldn’t be more approachable.”

On his beloved Baggies, he said: “It’s fantastic they have got into the Premiership. But I think they need three or four new players. If we finish fourth from bottom next season (and so are not relegated back to the Championship) every West Brom fan across the world will be pleased.”