The Grenfell boxers fighting to honour fire victims

Tommy Murphy says his success in boxing will "always be in memory" of the victims of the Grenfell fire tragedy

As boxing gyms go, Dale Youth Academy has got a proud history.

World champion George Groves, Olympic gold medallist James DeGale and Daniel Dubois, who's due to challenge Anthony Joshua this month, have all trained there.

But part of its story is "hard to think about", up-and-coming boxer Tommy Murphy tells BBC Newsbeat.

The club used to be based in Grenfell Tower - the 23-storey tower block ravaged by a fire on 14 June 2017

Seventy-two people died in the blaze - the worst residential fire since World War Two.

A public inquiry, due to publish its findings this week, has been gathering evidence about what went wrong since 2018.

To Tommy, that night is "just a blur".

"It’s still half-unbelievable now," he says.

"You can’t really explain the feeling. I was only going to the gym there but there’s people who were living there and lost family members in there.

“If you ask most people who live locally it’s a big part of them."

The 23-year-old boxer has been part of Dale Youth Academy since 2010 and turned professional in 2022.

“I’ve been coming here since I was a kid," he says.

"It’s kept me and many other people out of trouble."

Tommy lives 10 minutes away from Grenfell but says he knew people who died in the fire that had supported him at the gym.

"One of my good friends, his father died," he says.

“He used to help out in the gym. Coach, clean up, pad the boys, give advice and he tragically lost his life."

Dale Youth Academy is just a stone's throw from its old home in Grenfell Tower

The gym had been renovated just months before the fire, and temporarily set up in a disused car park afterwards.

BBC show DIY SOS helped build the gym in Ladbroke Grove where the club's now based, a stone's throw from Grenfell Tower.

“It’s not easy to miss," Tommy says.

"Everywhere you go there’s a memorial. Every year everyone does the silent march for it."

Since turning professional, Tommy’s won all five fights he’s had so far but the tragedy is never far from his thoughts.

"It’s always in our hearts but you don’t really want to remember that sort of tragedy," says Tommy.

“I always think if I go on to do good things now it will always be in memory of the people in that gym."

'Keep going for them'

Kyle was 13 when 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire says Dale Youth Academy means "everything" to him

Another boxer, Kyle, also wants to honour the victims of the tragedy every time he steps into the ring.

“It gives me a lot of inspiration," he says. "I can literally see it [the building] right now.

"It just makes me want to push every day.

"I got given another chance at life, I’ve got to keep going for them.”

Kyle's 20, and was just 13 when the fire at Grenfell happened.

“When you’re 13 it affects you but you don’t realise that it’s affecting you day-to-day,” he says.

“You don’t realise what’s really going on until later on down the line.

"Only now it hits - all those people gone just like that."

Kyle, who lives barely 10 minutes from Grenfell, says the gym “means everything” to him, adding: “I can’t live without it to be honest”.

“It literally is my reason for living," he says.

"It sounds very sad but literally without this boxing gym I wouldn’t be anything. It’s literally my whole entire identity.

“If it got taken away I don’t know what I would be.”

'Grenfell in our hearts'

"To see that memorial on the tower makes you think they’re always going to be remembered, never going to be forgotten," says Roshan

Like Kyle, 20-year-old Roshan Patel was in his early teens when the fire at Grenfell happened.

He says at the time, it gave him a “reality check”.

“You think more about your family and friends and you want to make the most of your time with them. It really makes everyone closer together,” he says.

Seeing the tower, now covered in a memorial, "makes you think they [the victims] are always going to be remembered, never going to be forgotten," he says.

“When you walk around the streets of Ladbroke Grove you see all of the memorials on the wall.

"Everyone wants to keep a part of Grenfell in their hearts and not forget about it."

The gym and local area is "a big community", he says.

“Everyone here is like your brothers and sisters, the coaches are like your uncles or even your second parents."

The boxers hope the inquiry's report into the fire will finally provide the community with the answers it needs.

“The people want to know what’s happened, nobody’s going to give up," says Tommy.

“If you know people from Ladbroke Grove, the way that we’re bred, we’re stubborn.

"If people want answers, they’ll get them and people won’t stop until they get them.”

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