FEATURE: A new Northampton boxing gym fit for the professionals

The Shoe-Box Gym is the brainchild of James Conway, a long-time coach at the highly successful Kings Heath Amateur Boxing Club.

He is also the father of highly-rated pro fighter Kieron Conway, who has been making serious waves in the sport over the past couple of years.

Conway Snr gave up his role alongside Arthur Daly at Kings Heath last summer, and set about finding a home that would cater for the professional fighters, who up until that point had been forced to move away from the town to get the facilities they needed.

But not any more.

The Shoe-Box gym is situated in a small industrial unit off the Harlestone Road in Northampton, and it has everything a pro boxer needs.

“I thought there was no better time to try and support Northampton’s pro boxing scene, with Kieron doing really well,” said Conway.

“A lot of amateurs who were turning over to pro were leaving Northampton, the likes of Eithan James who goes down to Bromley.

“I just thought, ‘they shouldn’t have to do that’. But there was nowhere for them to go.

“You have to distinguish between the amateur training and the professional training, because you can’t train like that as a professional, you have to do everything, every day

“When you are a kid and you are coming through the amateurs, and you are running a club, if somebody has a day off then they are missing something.

“But with a professional, you can give them a programme and they are professional, they have to stick to that programme.

“It was an idea of mine, not just to support Kieron, but to support Northampton boxing in general.”

The name is inspired by Conway’s own life experience, and is also a nod to the industry the town is famous for.

Conway worked for 20 years at Church’s shoe factory in St James before quitting to concentrate on boxing coaching, and admits: “I called is Shoe-Box, because they are the only two things I know about... shoes and boxing!”

Not surprisingly, a professional standard boxing ring dominates the gym, while surrounding it are all the tools of a boxer’s trade, and the room is warm.

Very warm.

Powerful ceiling heaters are blasting out hot air to ensure the boxers get a sweat on, and the day I am there, a state-of-the-art camera system is being installed so that all training can be recorded, giving the boxers the chance to look back on any work they have been doing.

This of course doesn’t come cheap, and it was also no easy task finding a suitable venue.

“We looked at a lot of places, but there were problems with everywhere, and finances were a problem as well,” said Conway.

Step forward Guy Loveland of S&D Paving, who is one of Kieron’s main sponsors.

“Guy loves his boxing and wanted to help out,” said Conway. “He actually bumped into this place by chance, which is round the back of his unit.

“He didn’t even know it was up for rent, so I found it online, we came round and had a look, and it has gone from there.

“Financially, Guy has supported the place massively and has got us off the ground, putting loads of support into it.

“He really wants to support Northampton boxing as well, which is great, so we now have this nice pro base now, which is not only for Northampton boxers, as hopefully boxers will now come here from other towns.

“If that happens then we can make Northampton as big in the pro boxing world as it is in the amateur, because the town has a really good reputation in the amateurs.

“Kings Heath have had more than 30 national champions in the past 11 years, won the Haringey Box Cup, have had European championship medals, have won Commonwealth gold medals, it has been really good.”

Conway has maintained an excellent relationship with Kings Heath, as well as the town’s other amateur clubs, but he is now focusing on the professional side of things, which looks set to take off.

Kieron Conway is part of the Matchroom stable and last year fought for the British title at super-welterweight, drawing the bout with champion Ted Cheeseman.

The 23-year-old is aiming high and says he wants to be the town’s first professional male British champion.

Like every other athlete, he he has been frustrated by the coronavirus pandemic that has decimated sport across the globe, with his scheduled fight in April against former English champion Navid Mansouri being postponed until at least June.

Other boxers already working at Shoe-Box include professionals Sam Daly and Julian Wilson, who hails from Bedford, while town amateurs Ben Vaughan and Dempsey Madden are both set to turn professional in the coming months.

Conway expects that roster to grow significantly over the next few months, particularly once the gym is finished and properly up and running in the summer.

“I have had to turn people away before because I have had no base to train them from,” said Conway, who has been coaching for 13 years.

“It was easy with Kieron, because I could just move here, there and everywhere because we are together most of the time, but if we wanted to do this seriously, with other boxers, we needed a base.

“Now we have that base.”

So what does the Shoe-Box offer for a fighter that your standard amateur boxing club gym cannot?

“We are going to be open from first thing in the morning, until last thing at night,” said Conway. “There will be bespoke classes for all the pros, they will be totally looked after.

“From the contacts we have with using altitude chambers, to yoga, to padwork sessions, bag work, and a nice hot gym to train in.

“It will all basically be at the beck and call of the boxer, because some people can only train at certain times because they still have to work as well.

“We will provide the training programme, which will be the traditional hard day, easy day, hard day, easy day, and then sparring once a week, whether it be technical sparring or open sparring.

“It will be tailored to each boxer.”

Career switch all down to a dog...

James Conway has been a boxing coach for the past 13 years - and it might not have happened but for a dog!

Let me explain...

Conway had worked at Church’s shoe factory in St James for 20 years by the time he decided to switch making boots for training boxers.

He cut his teeth and learned his trade in the Kings Heath amateur gym, working alongside Arthur Daly, before branching out on his own to open the Shoe-Box gym for professional fighters in Northampton, including his son, Kieron.

Conway had tried his hand at boxing as a youngster, and had trained under Daly, but he was torn between boxing and football.

In the end, it was football that won out and Conway opted for the pitch over the ring.

Good enough to be part of the Cobblers youth set-up as a teenager, Conway ended up playing in the UCL for Spencer, but he suffered a knee inury that saw him laid up at home.

And this is where the dog comes in, and where fate plays its hand in setting Conway on a totally new path, leading to where he is today.

“I had been playing for Spencer, and suffered a bad knee injury,” he said.

“I was on crutches at home, and Arthur came round my house to buy a dog! He didn’t even know it was that I was living there.

“He hadn’t seen me since I was a kid, and then said ‘why don’t you come and give me a hand with the gym?’.

“He was starting up a new venture, and he said to me he could do with another pair of hands, and it went from there.

“Arthur and me hit it off, and we have have been friends ever since.”

And Conway has been hooked on boxing coaching ever since as well.