Levin boxing club - the cheapest in New Zealand - looking for sponsorship

Hinemoa House boxing coaches Perry Rackley and Jon Birch.

A Levin amateur boxing club with a proven track record is looking for a sponsor to help promising talent compete against other boxers from around New Zealand.

Perry Rackley has coached "thousands" of people of all ages and sizes to fitness from an old classroom first donated to Hinemoa House in 2006. The youngest was aged six and the oldest 76.

While it wasn't just about boxing, occasionally there are youngsters showing raw talent and potential who deserve a chance to compete.

Boxers who had proven themselves could compete at tournaments but, at the moment, travel was restricted to day trips to nearby places like Palmerston North and Wellington, just a few times a year.

Now, with at least five boxers within the club ready to test themselves in the competitive arena, Rackley feels they deserve the chance to compete further afield.

A sponsor would enable the boxers to compete at tournaments around the North Island that require an overnight stay, as weigh-ins are often staged early on the morning of a tournament.

"In the old days, you were billeted out, but that doesn't happen anymore," he said.

Incredibly, despite the number of people Rackley had through the doors, very few had made it to the competition ring.

That's because he has stayed true to a philosophy that there is no point in putting a boxer forward unless you are confident in his or her abilities, and that they had done the groundwork.

Rackley, who still coaches out of Hinemoa House, has in recent times enlisted the help of expatriate Englishman Jon Birch, joining him on the coaching team.

He said the Levin gym prides itself on being the cheapest in New Zealand. Through grants, Rackley and Birch can take their boxing training into Levin schools to give basic entry-level tuition to interested students.

The visits take in schools around Horowhenua and were initially supported through sponsorship by Sport Manawatū between 2010 and 2015.

Since then it had become a term-by-term proposition through different charitable grants.

The sessions had always had good testimonials.

"We tell them we don't train bullies. We train people to defend themselves and control themselves and to get fit," he said.

"The kids love it."

Rackley said the club had always prided itself on making it accessible for people by keeping any subscriptions to a bare minimum.

"We'd be the cheapest boxing club in New Zealand," he said.

Rackley was from NZ boxing royalty. He was the son of the late Les Rackley Snr, who died on June 2 in Nelson, at the age of 92.

From the 1960s through to the late 1980s Rackley Snr trained boxers to 55 New Zealand titles, 20 South Island titles and 50 or more provincial titles.

Among his protégés were his four sons; Jeff, Les Jr, Dean and Perry, who all went on to represent New Zealand in boxing, with Jeff competing for New Zealand at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

If anyone could help, they could ring Rackley (027-222-5368) or Birch (0204-525-480).