Political heavyweights aim to land big blows

A Conservative community campaigner is hoping to deliver a knockout blow to his political master in a head-to-head contest.

Shaz Saleem and Dudley Council’s leader, Cllr Patrick Harley, aim to raise tens of thousands of pounds for charity in a boxing bout at Dudley Town Hall.

The pair will square up to each other on Friday August 21 in a match they hope will raise up to £40,000 for good causes supported by Dudley’s mayor.

Cllr Harley said: “It started about 12 months ago, I’d piled on more weight, I didn’t like what I saw; physically not very good at all, unable to sleep at night, not having any clothes that fit.

“If you don’t feel good about yourself it’s not a good place to be, I was rapidly approaching 60 and I thought something has got to give here.

“I like my beer and I like my food too much so diets are no good, the only form of exercise, the toughest form of exercise is boxing training.”

Cllr Harley got into training at Coop’s Boxing Camp in Kingswinford where former professional boxer Shaun Cooper and his team got him into shape.

Cllr Harley added:”While I was training I must have taken a blow to the head because I thought ‘this is a big tick on the bucket list, on the bucket list every boxing fan must have, it would be nice to have just one match’.

“There was only one bloke crazy enough to say ‘yeah I’ll come and dance with you for the night’.

“Instead of two blokes with big egos getting in the ring just to tick our bucket list, I thought if we do it for the mayor’s charity it’s also doing some good.”

Shaz Saleem said: “First off I thought he must be joking, I remember laughing, and he was like ‘no it will be really good fun’.

“When he mentioned charity I thought ‘what better way to raise money to do something worthwhile for the community, you can’t get a bigger name than Pat in the borough.”

Despite neither man being regular boxers they say when the bell goes to start the fight nobody will be pulling their punches.

Shaz Saleem said: “We want to give respect to the sport, the athletes that take part are incredible.

“We are training our socks off and we want to make sure we do justice to the fight, we don’t want to do head guards – personally it messes my hair up.”

The hype around the fight is already building, Shaz Saleem has nicknamed his opponent ‘The Old Lion’ but is tipping him as the favourite for a victory.

Cllr Harley said: “I’ve probably got a reach advantage and definitely a weight advantage but Shaz has got youth on his side.”

Tickets for Dudley’s big boxing night, which will also feature an undercard of professional and amateur bouts, are available from the borough halls website.