Boxing champion Daniel Lapin training with youngsters at Islington Boxing Club this week

A BOXING champion from Ukraine dropped into an Islington club this week to back calls for teenagers to choose the ring over a life of crime.

Daniel Lapin fought and won against Lewis Edmondson in front of 90,000 people at ­Wembley last month, and has appeared on the undercard for bouts of boxing megastars including Anthony Joshua, Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. The pro fighter came to Islington Boxing Club in Archway yesterday (Thursday) to ­support charity Boxwise, which offers programmes to teenagers with the goal of reducing violence through sport.

Speaking through an interpreter, he told the Tribune that 15 of his former sparring partners representing Ukraine had been killed in the war, and of his hope that the fighting would come to an end soon.

Talking about the initiative, Mr Lapin said: “The more time they spend in the gym, the less time they have for some foolish things.”

Mr Lapin said he would “never fight on the street”, adding: “I fight in training, and I fight to get paid.”

He told how he had grown up in a tough area “with a lot of drug addicts and alcoholics”.

Mr Lapin is about to start a training camp for a bout with Troy Jones in Manchester on November 1.

Daniel Lapin: ‘Of course I miss Ukraine’

Kids who train regularly at the Archway gym were in awe as Mr Lapin boxed alongside them and later gave them his training tracksuits. Billy, 12, said: “It’s very cool to see him. I watched him box in Wembley. I thought Daniel did very, very well. I’d like to be like him one day.”

As he rises to fame in the boxing world, however, Mr Lapin still reflects on the war raging in his home country.

“I would like to think that people in Ukraine are proud of me,” he said. “Of course I miss Ukraine. We still go back and forth to Ukraine because we have to. The thing is I can’t do any training there because they bomb every night, and when you cannot sleep for 10 days in a row, you cannot train.”

The boxer has been a rising star since he was competing as a teenager in amateur fights.

“From my Ukrainian national boxing team when we were kids, 15 people have already died in the war,” he said.

As negotiations between presidents Trump, Zelensky and Putin continue, Mr Lapin, who is from Crimea, said he hoped that no land would be given up in a deal to end the war.

He said: “I don’t think negotiations will work immediately. We need to end the suffering of our people for ever, with security guarantees.”

Reggie Hagland, the boxing club manager, said it was a “pleasure” to welcome stars like Mr Lapin to the club, adding: “It helps ensure that we have the next generation of boxers coming through, and it’s a good morale boost.

“We hope that we can have big names and professionals continue to visit us.”