Bury Amateur Boxing Club is widely regarded as one of the best boxing gyms in the country, counting former world champion Amir Khan and current World Super Bantamweight champion Scott Quigg among its alumni.

The procession of talent shows no signs of slowing down this year after 2014 yielded many reasons to be cheerful for the Walmersley Road based training centre.

The current crop of young boxers have impressed across the world with their performances in the past year, winning titles, medals and recognition along the way. The most promising of the current crop of fighters; the aptly named Muhammad Ali finished the year having won the ABA Junior Championship, The National Boy’s Club gold medal, a silver medal at the world championships, and a bronze medal at the Youth Olympics in China.

Ali is not the only success story of the past 12 months however, as younger fighter Ibrahim Nadim also won his ABA Junior Championship, and followed that success with victory at the Monkstown Box Cup in Dublin.

Bury ABC has also had significant results from one of its female boxers, Sarah Dunne, whose talent led to her selection for the England squad for last summer’s European Championships, a squad containing the more established names of Olympians Nicola Adams and Natasha Jonas. Last month she also completed a three-day training exercise with England's Elite squad in Sheffield.

Another youngster, 17-year-old Ben Thornley, is also impressing having won through to the semi-finals of the North West Regional Championships at Walkden 6th Form College last week. Thornleigh won his quarter-final bout on a split decision over Mehran Khan from Hamer ABC in his 75kg-81kg fight.

This standard of great success was rewarded with a parade of awards at the North West ABA Awards in October last year, with prizes won by Ali, Dunne, Nadim, as well as fellow Bury ABC talent Ali Akbar Javid, and Zain Khan. The infrastructure of the club was also recognized in the Coach of the Year category, the award going to trainers Mick Jelley, and Colin Carr.

When asked about the aspirations for his charges over the next year, Jelley has the air of a trainer who understands that nothing in Boxing is easy, and nothing is a given, “We’ll try to win titles, we have been producing schoolboy champions and junior champions for years, this club has been open since 1936, but you never know. Like any sport you train to do your best, but that is all you can do.” He added; “This year we’ll have at least four boxers going for ABA championships, but it is really hard as everyone is at elite standard there.”

“In 2015 we’d like to see them I’d like to see them get as far as they can do. They won’t all become champions, but they want to. As long as they keep doing their best and enjoying the sport then I’ll be happy. Let’s hope some of them get what they want, because I’ll be very proud if they do.”