EDMONTON EAGLES Boxing Club smashed its target of throwing one million punches in 12 hours as it marked its grand reopening in style at the weekend.
The award-winning club, based in Montagu Road, held its Punch A Million event on Saturday to mark the opening of its newly refurbished gym at the Montagu Recreation Centre, where its talented young boxers – with the help of professional stars Darren Barker, Barnet’s European middleweight champion, and Cheshunt’s English flyweight champion Ashley Sexton – needed only seven hours and 20 minutes to jab, hook and uppercut their way to the target – raising much-needed funds for the club in the process.
Enfield’s undefeated Evangelou brothers Chris and Andreas, both of whom learned their trade at Edmonton Eagles before turning professional, were also on show to help the youngsters, along with coaches, family members and firefighters from nearby Edmonton fire station, who threw an impressive 100,000 punches themselves.
Head coach Costakis Evangelou threw the first punches of the day, and it was fitting that the final ten were thrown by president Penny Efstathiou, who founded the club in 2004 and has seen it go from strength to strength ever since.
“It was a wonderful community day and a real celebration,” she said. “The building is now totally transformed and it will present us with so many opportunities to extend the work of the club and also to initiate other community projects that will bring a lasting benefit to people of all ages. All this would not be possible were it not for so many people’s support and co-operation and for that I am extremely grateful.”
Head coach Dr Evangelou added: “It was a significant day not just for the club but for everyone present, and we appreciate the amazing support we’ve had from so many over the years.”
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