The Untold

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The Untold: The Quarantine Fight Club

The Quarantine Fight Club

BBC Radio 4 - The Untold, The Quarantine Fight Club

Will the Hard Knocks Gym comply with the Covid lockdown, or will fights there continue?

When police raided the Hard Knocks Gym in Bradford a hundred spectators were cheering on a fight. The defiant event organiser tells The Untold why a fine is unlikely to stop him.

A fight promoter has defended his Quarantine Fight Club but will a police raid and large fine give him pause for thought when it comes to organising more live events?

The fight at the Hard Knocks Gym in Bradford was raided last October, with police finding scores of spectators crammed into a tight space: there was no social distancing and few of the people there were wearing face masks. The crowds were cheering on boxers from the Quarantine Fight Club.

It was launched by professional kick-boxer, Darren Moffitt, who says it was only intended as a bit of fun. When the first lockdown was announced he had time on his hands and started holding fights in a field that he live streamed. The club’s following quickly grew and soon he was being offered venues around Yorkshire to host his live events:

“The fights are controlled by myself. I know what I'm doing. I try keep my distance but the fighters don't social distance as they're fighting together. I know it's a hard one. There's always going to be a couple of people frowning on it.”

Darren admits he's done wrong by holding spectator attended events, but is torn about whether to stop: on the one hand he doesn't want to get fined again, but on the other, he claims he's helping reduce the toll lockdown's having on mental health.

His Quarantine Fight Club events now attract thousands of viewers online and his fighters have, he says, really come on. But deciding what to do following the Bradford raid is difficult and he doesn’t want to cause problems for his friend, the bare-knuckle boxer Scott Midgley. Scott started the Hard Knocks Gym from scratch: as a new business he didn't qualify for furlough and is using his life savings to keep going. A hefty fine could force the gym to close and would bring an end to the opportunities provided there for disadvantaged youngsters during lockdown

Producer: Sue Mitchell

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Factual: Life Stories

A series documenting the untold dramas of 21st-century Britain.

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