Fisher’s highly-respected Steve Hiser clocks up 50 years as a coach at Bermondsey club

BY EDMUND BRACK
edmund@slpmedia.co.uk

Hugely-respected fight figure Steve Hiser is celebrating 50 years of coaching at Fisher Boxing Club.

The 82-year-old initially walked into the Bermondsey-based club in 1957 as a young boxer.

Eye injuries forced Hiser to halt his career after moving into the professional ranks.

But he went on to coach Lloyd Honeyghan, who won the undisputed world welterweight title off American star Donald Curry in 1986. David Walker and Ted Cheeseman were both standout amateurs, with the latter going on to become a two-time British light-middleweight champion as well as challenging for the European belt.

Hiser also trained Mickey Cantwell and Tim Driscoll, who also turned professional and went on to box for world titles.

“He saved tonnes of people and made sure they had good lives in Bermondsey,” Cheeseman told the South London Press.

“He was like a dad to a lot of them.

“There were a lot of kids he believed in and gave a chance to, rather than them be left sitting on the street. He gave kids self-belief. Even the ones who didn’t go on to have major careers, he helped them have morals and discipline

“He helped me become the man I am today. He expected self-discipline and dedication to the sport.

“He kept me in line. I can remember coming back from England squads and I wouldn’t have paid my subs. I’d won three national titles but he’d still stop me from training until I had put my subs in. It was the right thing to do.”

Terry Insole won several national junior titles while boxing out of the Fisher Club. He said: “It’s a remarkable achievement.

“I have been in boxing since I was seven and I’m 81 now.

“He’s a very firm guy with what he does and knows what he is doing, but he doesn’t have to carry a big stick, and he doesn’t have to shout and is highly respected by all the boys.

“We all considered Steve a natural boxer. From when I first knew him in 1957, when he was 15, and I was a year younger, Steve would automatically have combination punches – he’d look for three or four punches instead of one.

“When you’re a natural like that, you can adapt to styles. When Lloyd Honeyghan turned professional, he became a world champion.

“Honeyghan, who has had other coaches, said to me that Steve was the best coach he has ever had. Steve has adapted to whatever has been needed in the sport, and the results tell the story.

“People like to talk about professionals more than they do amateurs, but he has had a hell of a lot of boys who have been outstanding amateurs.

“The big thing for me is that when I went to see Steve in the gym one early evening last year, there were about seven or eight youngsters training. There was one kid there who spoke a little bit of English, and he was tapping away at the big punch bag.

“Every now and then, he was doing the ‘Ali shuffle’ – Muhammad Ali’s signature move. The kid was looking over to see if we spotted it.

“I said to Steve: ‘You see him do that?’ And he replied: ‘Do you know what? Two months ago he couldn’t run the width of this gym.’

“I’m saying that because Steve’s interests and concerns are as much for the kids who are never going to make it as big names in the sport as they are for those looking for a route away from temptation.”

Hiser received a British Empire Medal for his services to youth boxing in Southwark in 2012.

“It was an acknowledgement of his achievement,” said Insole.

“Sports organisations don’t seem to appreciate what they have got. But in all my years, Steve is the only trainer I know to have coached at a club for 50 years.

“He is still busting a gut at 82 in the gym. The mere fact he was awarded the OBE speaks volumes of how integral he has been to the South London community.”

PICTURES: FISHER ABC