South London boxing community mourns loss of legendary amateur coach Steve Hiser

BY EDMUND BRACK
edmund@slpmedia.co.uk

The South London boxing community are in mourning after legendary amateur coach Steve Hiser passed away last week.

Hiser dedicated more than 50 years of his life to training youngsters at Southwark’s Fisher Amateur Boxing Club.

Hiser initially walked into the Bermondsey-based club in 1957 as a young boxer before an eye injury ended his career after moving into the professional ranks.

Hiser, who was 82, coached an abundance of talent who have gone on to become professionals, including former world welterweight champion Lloyd Honeyghan, ex-British light-middleweight title-holder Ted Cheeseman and current domestic middleweight king Denzel Bentley.

Samm Mullins, now head coach at the Lambeth-based Churchill’s, was coached and worked alongside Hiser. He said: “The man should get a statue in Bermondsey – just to highlight that it’s not all about money and glory.

“He was at the Fisher for 50 years. You have to help and teach kids and it’s so hard to do. If you have a bad day at home, then the last thing I want to do is go to the gym. But I never went to the Fisher without Steve being there.

“It wasn’t all about the boxing for Steve. When I worked with him and trained the same kids, some of them were terrible. Steve would say: ‘Samm, keep working with them, you don’t know what’s going on outside’.

“As much as he liked the champions, he knew some of these fighters weren’t going to make it. But he still gave them the same time as those who won the ABAs.

“It made them feel special. I see why he did it. There is nothing better when you have this kid who might not be so good, a little overweight, and he might never box, but treat him like one and let him be part of the team.

“The guy was a genius. He was the last of that generation. You’re never going to be able to replace these guys.

“Fifty years of producing champions and having that same passion is unheard of.

“As soon as I got the call that he passed away, I sat there upset, but then I thought about the good times and what he did for me.

“I can only smile. I have a brilliant father, but he was a second father to myself. I reckon every fighter down the gym would say the same.”

One of the young boxers Hiser gave a shot to was Bentley.

The British middleweight title-holder said: “Steve had a big effect on my career. I started quite late and was going around amateur gyms.

“They asked if I had boxed before, I would tell them ‘no’ and they would say: ‘There is no space.’ But as soon as I walked into the Fisher, Steve said: ‘Okay, let’s see what you have got’. He put his time and effort into me.

“I am where I am today because of that man. He showed me how to box and always encouraged me.

“Everyone wants to win and be champions, but he’s not there for the accolades. He built so many fighters from the ground up, and it just shows what type of man he was. He has contributed to so many lives.”

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

“He gave me a pathway in boxing and life – he kept me on the straight and narrow,” said two-time British light-middleweight champion Cheeseman.

“He laid the foundations for me in everything I have ever achieved. He was the first one I trained with – and I trained with him for years.

“He made me the fighter I was. I have had coaches with England, but they’re more like tacticians who polish you up. But at the start of my career and building all of my foundations, Steve was the man who made that.

“He gave up his family life for years and years. Even when I went to see him in the hospital, at the time, he was thinking he was getting out, and he said: ‘I’ll be getting up the gym soon’.

“He would have died in the gym if he could have. One of the funniest memories was when I first got picked for England. I walked into the gym after coming back from the training camp. As I went up to pay my subs, he gave me a slap around the face. Steve laughed. I said: ‘What was that for?’ He said:

‘See, England forgot to teach you to keep your hands up, didn’t they?’

“He loved the sport. His two sayings were: ‘You’re a Bermondsey boy’ and ‘at the start of the fight, walk out and then over the top right hand.’

“Every fighter will remember Steve Hiser saying that to them.”

Former Irish welterweight champion boxer Peter McDonagh, raised in South London, was another youngster that Hiser developed.

“He’s a big loss,” said McDonagh. “Not just to Bermondsey, but to so many of us. We would say he’s a dad to thousands of boys and two girls.

“It sounds mad, but I have lost a brother and a sister, and I have never grieved the way I have over Steve.

“I’m speaking to grown men and we’re all crying like little kids. It’s inevitable that people are going to die, but with Steve Hiser, he was like a superhero.

“Legend is used too much in this day in age, but Steve was an absolute legend – I call him the Alex Ferguson of amateur boxing.

“What he did with all of us – and we will all say the same thing – but from Loyd Honeyghan to myself or Dave Walker and Denzel Bentley, we would all walk up to the gym and be proud to show him our belt. But Steve would tell us to get out – he would make us keep our feet on the ground. He had that aura about him – nobody is bigger than the Fisher.

“When I turned professional, I had more trainers than JD Sports, but I only ever had one teacher, and that was Steve Hiser.

“It’s no disrespect to the people that I worked with as a professional, but Steve knew more in his little finger than the rest. I always went by his training regime.

“I would go back into the corner sometimes, having top coaches speak to me, and think: ‘I wonder what Steve would be thinking now.’

“I would always go with his instinct – it was built in me. Steve gave me a great foundation and fundamentals in boxing, but even better than that, he gave it to me for life.”

The 10-bell salute was sounded on Friday night at Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions show at York Hall as a mark of respect to Hiser.

Bentley was ringside supporting Lewisham cruiserweight Ellis Zorro, who headlined the card.

“You don’t see amateur coaches get OBEs,” said Bentley, who challenged for the WBO world title in Las Vegas in November.

“He was just local and down in South London, getting kids off the street and bringing them in and turning them into better people – he changed their lives.

“I went to go and see him in the hospital. We were all there and a bit down. He said: ‘You guys coming to see me has cheered me up. When’s the next fight?’

“I told him I was fighting for the British middleweight championship and he started telling me: ‘This is what you do against a southpaw’.

“I was thinking: ‘Steve, you’re out here giving me instructions, just get better’. He told me: ‘I’m all good. My body is letting me down, but I remember everything and can’t wait to get back to the gym’.

“His life was on the line and all he could think about was teaching these kids. It showed what type of man he was.

“I’m proud I got to experience him in my life and he was a part of my career.”