The Grenfell boxers fighting to honour fire victims

As boxing gyms go, Dale Youth Academy has got a proud history.
World champion George Groves, Olympic gold medallist James DeGale and Daniel Dubois, whoâs due to challenge Anthony Joshua this month, have all trained there.
But part of its story is âhard to think aboutâ, up-and-coming boxer Tommy Murphy tells BBC Newsbeat.
The club used to be based in Grenfell Tower â the 23-storey tower block ravaged by a fire on 14 June 2017
Seventy-two people died in the blaze â 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 âjust a blurâ.
âItâs still half-unbelievable now,â he says.
âYou canât really explain the feeling. I was only going to the gym there but thereâs people who were living there and lost family members in there.
âIf you ask most people who live locally itâs a big part of them.â
The 23-year-old boxer has been part of Dale Youth Academy since 2010 and turned professional in 2022.
âIâve been coming here since I was a kid,â he says.
âItâs kept me and many other people out of trouble.â
Tommy lives 10 minutes away from Grenfell but says he knew people who died in the fire that had supported him at the gym.
âOne of my good friends, his father died,â he says.
âHe used to help out in the gym. Coach, clean up, pad the boys, give advice and he tragically lost his life.â

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 clubâs now based, a stoneâs throw from Grenfell Tower.
âItâs not easy to miss,â Tommy says.
âEverywhere you go thereâs a memorial. Every year everyone does the silent march for it.â
Since turning professional, Tommyâs won all five fights heâs had so far but the tragedy is never far from his thoughts.
âItâs always in our hearts but you donât really want to remember that sort of tragedy,â says Tommy.
âI always think if I go on to do good things now it will always be in memory of the people in that gym.â
âKeep going for themâ

Another boxer, Kyle, also wants to honour the victims of the tragedy every time he steps into the ring.
âIt gives me a lot of inspiration,â he says. âI can literally see it [the building] right now.
âIt just makes me want to push every day.
âI got given another chance at life, Iâve got to keep going for them.â
Kyleâs 20, and was just 13 when the fire at Grenfell happened.
âWhen youâre 13 it affects you but you donât realise that itâs affecting you day-to-day,â he says.
âYou donât realise whatâs really going on until later on down the line.
âOnly now it hits â all those people gone just like that.â
Kyle, who lives barely 10 minutes from Grenfell, says the gym âmeans everythingâ to him, adding: âI canât live without it to be honestâ.
âIt literally is my reason for living,â he says.
âIt sounds very sad but literally without this boxing gym I wouldnât be anything. Itâs literally my whole entire identity.
âIf it got taken away I donât know what I would be.â
âGrenfell in our heartsâ

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 âreality checkâ.
âYou 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,â he says.
Seeing the tower, now covered in a memorial, âmakes you think they [the victims] are always going to be remembered, never going to be forgotten,â he says.
âWhen you walk around the streets of Ladbroke Grove you see all of the memorials on the wall.
âEveryone wants to keep a part of Grenfell in their hearts and not forget about it.â
The gym and local area is âa big communityâ, he says.
âEveryone here is like your brothers and sisters, the coaches are like your uncles or even your second parents.â
The boxers hope the inquiryâs report into the fire will finally provide the community with the answers it needs.
âThe people want to know whatâs happened, nobodyâs going to give up,â says Tommy.
âIf you know people from Ladbroke Grove, the way that weâre bred, weâre stubborn.
âIf people want answers, theyâll get them and people wonât stop until they get them.â
