Anthony Young had a very successful amateur career competing in 49 amateur bouts and achieving various championship titles. He then turned pro and had 19 professional fights competing for the British Master Middleweight Title and the BBBoC’s Southern Area Middleweight Title. He retired from competitive boxing in 2009 and turned his attention to coaching. Anthony has a huge passion for not only boxing but promoting positive mental health and empowering others to grow and become everything they can be. Are you thinking about training to fight? Our January Fight School intake have started t ..read more

As a buisness 12 Rounds is very much a supporter of mental health awareness.  Founder Kat has spoken and written about this a lot. The post below is a guest post from Max Fraser of REAL High-performance sportswear, inspired by boxers and it clearly outlines the benefits of boxing on mental health.   Boxing is as much mental as it is physical. At the very highest level of competition, the difference between winning and losing is the fighter’s mentality. Both boxers will be physically primed to endure 10-12 rounds of explosive exertion. The physical conditioning and preparation for ..read more

As our latest Fight Skool intake kicks off, we thought what better time than to tell you a bit about the fight skool journey. Dan Cloak has being undertaking this journey regualry since 2017.   We asked him to tell us his story, what does he get out of putting himself through 10 weeks of intense training and getting regualry punched in the face?  Quite a lot it seems. Check out Dan’s inspiring story below. When did you first do Fundamentals? March 2017. My most vivid memory is the intense fear – I walked past the entrance to the gym 4 times and was about to just write off the ..read more

    This years Olympics saw some excellent boxing displayed.  If you watched much of the Olympic boxing tournaments you would have noticed different styles that were on show. There were 81 different countries being represented at this year’s Olympic boxing event. And what has become a regular occurrence in amateur boxing; Cuba reigned supreme with 4 gold medals and one bronze having entered 7 boxers. In this blog, I will discuss the various styles of the top boxing nations, starting with arguably the best… Cuba.   Cuba – Cuba are renown for their excellent footwork, balanc ..read more

  ‘You win or you learn’, a common phrase used in boxing, because you don’t actually lose; you’ve gained vital information on what you need to improve on. Fighting is like life, you’re given the theory (training), then you’re given the test (bout). Sometimes you pass, sometimes you don’t, but either way your given the lesson and the opportunity to take the test again (have another bout).   I lost my very first fight. A mixture of nerves, fear and doubt got the better of me and I didn’t perform. After I lost, the images I had created in my head of me winning championships and being a ..read more

This fantastic couple joined our fundamentals programme pre lock down last year. As we went into lockdown, instead of putting their training on hold Eion and Helen stepped things up by taking up our 1-1 outdoor PT option.  Over the last year we’ve watched them go from strength to strength.  Eion has not only dropped 10kg he has now joined our Fight Skool programme and is about to take part in his debut White Collar fight on 25th July at the Clapham Grand. Helen told us she’s never felt or looked better since taking up boxing.  We suspect we will see her in the ring too at some ..read more

Boxing is a fantastic outlet for kids. It unleashes all their natural energy, gives them an outside focus, teaches discipline and lessons that are usually taught later in life. I have been teaching kids since 2015 and although I was the coach, I too was learning during every class I taught. Every child presents a challenge. No two kids are the same, so you must vary your approach. Throughout the years, I have trained kids with Autism, Aspergers Syndrome (on the Autism spectrum) Downs syndrome, ADHD and a selective mute (who after 6 months of training ..read more

There is always a daunting feeling in the pit of your stomach every time you think about starting something new. Will I be good enough? am I too old? Too unfit?  Will I fit in? These are some of the questions that we berate ourselves with. The truth is, must of your fears are probably unfounded, but that doesn’t stop them creeping in and sometimes stopping you from starting at all. Here are a few worries people generally have about learning to box: Initial Fears ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’ – of course you don’t, everyone starts from the beginning; some pick it up faster than others. I ..read more

This morning I sat down to write a motivating email to our members and I have to say I really struggled. With lockdown continuing and no end date in sight, it’s definitely been starting to get to me. How can motivate my team, my boxing family when I can’t motivate myself I thought? I knew what I had to do, I had to do a workout to sort out my head. I really didn’t want to this morning, it was cold and I felt tired. But one thing I do know for sure is that this works. So I started swinging a kettlebell in my back garden and put together a circuit.  After the first round my energy started ..read more

Community is something I talk about a lot at 12 Rounds I believe that feeling part of a community is vital to our mental health.  Communities offer support, connection and help set healthy boundaries. Things that are important for our social functioning.  Prior to Covid we were even featured in Forbes magazine talking about how our community atmosphere has kept our members coming back year after year. Last week i did a radio interview talking about being part of Clapham Junctions Business Improvement District (BID) It made me realise that small businesses need supportive commun ..read more