Boxer banned from the buses aims to educate schoolchildren

BOXING champion Kid Galahad has been helping children to stay on the right side of the law by visiting schools in South Yorkshire to talk about how his life has changed through the sport.

The 22-year-old, whose real name is Barry Awad, has been working with South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive’s (SYPTE) education and safety team by talking about issues such as anti-social behaviour, choices and consequences.

Mr Awad, who adopted the name Kid Galahad after watching a film starring Elvis Presley as a boxer, was brought up in Sheffield.

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He started boxing when he was 14 after being expelled from school and banned from all buses, trams, youth clubs and swimming baths in the city. He said: “I was never in a gang but I used to get in fights all the time. I used to fight on the buses. I was banned from everything.

“I just wanted to be successful and I knew I had to train every day.

“SYPTE help children that might not have had the best opportunities or background to engage and find something positive to do.

“Their work emphasizes the importance of behaviour, discipline and education and gives kids focus, much like boxing has done for me.”

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Mr Awad’s involvement with SYPTE has included working with Nohmaan Hussain, a Year Nine pupil at King Ecgbert School, who has been crowned a national schoolboy boxing champion.

Nohmaan, who began boxing four years ago, said: “I am determined to get to the Olympics and represent as an amateur, and meeting Kid Galahad made that dream come closer.”