Klitschko and McGuigan fight for Youngsters

World Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko and former World Featherweight Champion Barry McGuigan have teamed up to visit the newest Laureus supported project based in London’s East End. Fight for Peace is a boxing and martial arts charity committed to promoting sport and personal development for young people. Originally established in Rio de Janeiro, Fight for Peace is now opening a new academy located in North Woolwich in Newham, one of the five London 2012 Olympic Boroughs. Wladimir Klitschko, the current IBF, WBO and IBO Heavyweight Champion, was in London to help launch Fight For Peace on behalf of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Klitschko met youngsters from the academy and took part in a boxing training session, even sparring in the ring with some of the young people. He and Barry McGuigan also took part in a council session at which the children were able to put questions to the two boxing legends. Laureus World Sports Academy member and All Blacks rugby legend Sean Fitzpatrick also joined the session to lend his support to the project. The project is aimed at young people between 11-21 years, specifically targeting hard-to-reach youngsters not in full-time education or employment. Fight for Peace will offer boxing training after school and college hours and provide vocational training sessions aimed at improving attendees’ chances of securing long term employment. Klitschko said: “I have just loved being in the East End of London to visit this wonderful project and meet the kids taking part. Fight for Peace is a great concept and I'm very pleased to support it with Laureus. It takes care of kids at an age when it is really important to get them off the streets and prevent them from getting involved in crimes and drugs. Through Laureus I have visited projects in the Bronx in New York and in Berlin and I know that boxing can provide a real sense of achievement and confidence to young people that are in difficult circumstances. I am sure Fight for Peace will be a real success in London.” Klitschko, who beat Sultan Ibragimov at Madison Square Garden in February to unify the IBF/IBO and WBO versions of the world heavyweight title, is a keen supporter of the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and is a member of the Laureus Friends & Ambassadors programme. Fight for Peace Chairman and Laureus Friend & Ambassador Barry McGuigan said: “It was a magnificent visit. The youth council session was fantastic and the most elating part of the day. To listen to Wladimir’s stories and to follow the lessons he gives to the kids was so inspiring. We could not have anybody better to represent boxing.” The project’s sister programme in Rio de Janeiro, the Fight for Peace Sports and Education Centre, provides over 1000 young people from the shanty town of Complexo da Maré with the opportunity to participate in sporting activities. The project channels youthful aggression positively through sport, providing opportunities for low-income youngsters. Supported by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation for the past five years, it represents a sanctuary in the midst of an area where drug trafficking and violence dominate. Luke Dowdney MBE, founder of Fight for Peace said: “I am extremely grateful to Wladimir and Barry for the support they have given to Fight for Peace as we launch in the UK. Our project in Rio de Janeiro has demonstrated what can be achieved by working with young people that are not in full-time education or employment in terms of building their self-confidence and offering them a way out of what can often be very challenging social circumstances.” The mission of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is to fund and promote the power of sport to effect positive social change in communities around the world. The Foundation supports almost 60 projects worldwide and has improved the lives of over 150,000 children since its inception, through its global foundation and a growing network of eight subsidiary foundations in Argentina, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the United States. The Foundation addresses issues in particular involving, but not limited to, young people impacted by social exclusion, gun and gang violence, discrimination, community integration, peace and reconciliation and education. The Laureus World Sports Academy is a unique association of 45 of the greatest living sporting legends led by its Chairman Edwin Moses. The Academy members share a belief in the power of sport to break down barriers, bring people together and to improve the lives of young people around the world. They act as global ambassadors for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, volunteering their time to visit projects in order to draw attention to the problems afflicting society today.