My name is Jon Pitman, owner and professional boxing coach at the Fight Factory. Let me give you an insight into my background. 

 

I started boxing at 11 years old at the Bronx ABC based at the Ebony Club in Gloucester and I very quickly fell in love with the sport. I had a successful amateur career, winning 5 Western Counties titles and reached the Junior ABA Finals. I was also selected to box for England but my amateur career was cut short just before I was due to turn professional, when I was involved in a motorbike accident.  

 

My whole life had been dedicated to boxing for ten years and I struggled with the realisation that I could no longer fight, but reluctantly I had to turn my back on the sport.

 

In late 2008 I was training in a gym with some friends and was offered a small room with a ring in it to rent where I could train people on the pads. Suddenly the Fight Factory was born and everything just spiralled from there. Within a month we had taken over the whole unit! We started an amateur boxing club called Factory ABC and it just grew and grew. Professional boxing had all but disappeared in Gloucester, with the last professional gym closing 30 years ago, so I got my Pro License to coach. I had one fighter, Danny Carter, and my professional boxing career as a coach started from there.

 

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