Legendary Rochdale boxing trainer back in bid to produce Olympic champion

Legendary Rochdale boxing trainer Terry Hernon insisted he will not leave the sport until he has fulfilled his lifelong aim of producing an Olympic champion.

Hernon, 72, trained Los Angeles 1984 Olympic semi-finalist Kevin Taylor at the Hamer Amateur Boxing Club, which he reformed in the borough.

And Hernon is back in the business after co-founding the Littleborough Amateur Boxing Club, where he hopes to finally train a gold medallist.

“I still get pleasure out of it,” he said.

“I would have liked to go back to Hamer but I did not feel like I was welcome there. I did not feel like I would fit in as they use different methods to me.

“I’ve still got a real passion for boxing and a passion to produce an Olympic Champion – and I will keep going until I do.”

Boxers at the club have already caught his eye, and while he remained tight-lipped on their identity he did reveal one future star was female.

With former Hopwood Hall pupil Nicola Adams having blazed a trail for women’s boxing by winning gold at the London 2012 Olympics, Hernon now hopes to nurture a successor at his Brown Street club.

Setting up the club – the first of its kind in Littleborough – was not straightforward however, as co-founder Shaun Clancy explained.

After organising some white collar fights for charity, Mr Clancy and his son Darren's license application was blocked by the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA).

“The Hamer Club put in a complaint,” Shaun explained. “They told the board we were involved in white collar fighting.

“We were, but they were charity events – everything was above board.

“It was me and my son and I was promoting the fights – they got a lot of coverage and they have been good events.

“However, the ABA said we couldn’t have a license so we had to go against them in court - after eight months we were finally allowed it.”

Mr Clancy now hopes the club can harness the momentum of the Olympics and inspire members of the community to get involved.

“I really don’t know why there was nothing before us,” he said.

“There’s nothing for the kids to do in Littleborough but this gives them the chance to do exercise and classes.

“We are hoping it will have a big effect on the community. We are actually going into the schools and putting on classes. It’s a case of stopping them all being young little fatties!

“All the young kids aspire to the level of the success we saw from boxers in the summer. It’s a big goal.”

For more information on the Littleborough Amateur Boxing Club email littleboroughabc@hotmail.co.uk