'There was sweat dripping off the windows': How Moss Side's boxing launched so many success stories

Next year marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Manchester's legendary boxing coach Phil Martin.

Phil's one-time protégé Joe Gallagher - a coach with an impeccable reputation in the sport of boxing - now hopes to have a statue commemorating his late mentor erected in time for the milestone, in Moss Side's Alexandra Park.

Decades after his death, Phil's legacy remains great. He founded Champs Camp Amateur Boxing Club on Princess Road in Moss Side, in the early 80s, at a time when the inner south Manchester neighbourhood was scarred by battles of the 1980s - against poverty, institutional racism, inner city frustration, and crime.

With the help of friends and fighters, Phil built the gym into a place where the troubles of the outside world could be left behind, where the frustrations of the streets could be channelled into honest competition and physical discipline.

Joe Gallagher remembers being a 16-year-old taking a bus to Phil Martin's gym every day at the start of his own career in the sport.

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"Moss Side ABC at night time, it was above the Co op then," he said. "It was like a lighthouse, that building was always lit up.

"There was sweat and perspiration dripping off the windows. You'd be on the top seat of the bus looking in to see what was going on. And what was going on was great for the area and for the city of Manchester.

"All the kids from the area and the community were in there, in the gymnasium, because that was the only thing that was going on."

Despite the gym giving so many young people a