Emmanuel Umeh will open the boxing season for the East London Boxing Academy after declaring he wants to give the sport a “proper go”.

The 32-year-old joined the academy two years ago but has only recently made the decision to take the sport seriously and compete again.

Umeh has been a frequent visitor to the gym and this summer contacted head coach at the academy, Umer Ali Iqbal, to express his desire to give boxing “one last push”.

Commenting on Umeh’s decision to join the academy in order to pursue his ambitions within the sport, Iqbal said: “Although the welterweight division is arguably the toughest division in the sport, I feel that Manny is ready to step it up.

“It was clear that Manny wanted to achieve something and chose the Academy as the route to fulfil his dream. I feel extremely humbled that an athlete of Manny’s calibre has chosen the East London Boxing Academy.”

Iqbal continued: “We have trained hard throughout the summer in the off-season and pre-season and I think Manny has the talent to go all the way in the championships; it will take a very good boy to beat Manny.

“Although we have a vast range of boxers within the club’s ranks, I have chosen Manny to open our season for us as the improvement I have seen in Manny in the last few weeks has been tremendous.

“Manny is a role model to the younger boys in the gym and all the boys look up to him, so it would be a great start to the season with Manny becoming the season’s first champion.”

Umeh is competing in the welterweight division at the upcoming England Boxing Senior Development Championships and has reached the semi-finals, which are scheduled for tomorrow (Friday).

The following week, the East London Boxing Academy have Habib Akram, the unbeaten Muhammed Hassnan Ali and debutant Hamza Hajee all boxing in the Hornchurch boxing show on Saturday, September 27.

Former British featherweight champion Colin McMillan will host his 11th annual boxing dinner at the Prince Regent Hotel in Chigwell next month.

McMillan has organised the dinner and charity auction night with Barking Amateur Boxing Club to raise money for the JK Shah Foundation.

The event will take place on Friday, October 3 and tickets are priced at £60. Contact 0208 599 6823 or visit www.colin-mcmillan.com.