John Conteh MBE
Patron
We are honoured to have former Champion boxer John Conteh MBE as our patron. John is known and respected for his charity work and was awarded an MBE in 2017 for his services to boxing.
He held multiple light-heavyweight championships including the WBC (World title) from 1974 to 1978; and the European, British, and Commonwealth titles between 1973 and 1974.
Meet the Team
Imran Khalil
Founder, Director
Imran is the founder of The Fighting Chance. He’s passionate about boxing and the positive impact boxing training has on people’s lives. He spent 20 years in employability delivering national and specialist recruitment campaigns. Imran works closely with key partners from charities, media, government agencies, and key stakeholders across London and the UK ensuring the continued growth and development of The Fighting Chance.
Bart Bartholomew
Development Manager
Bart has a background in Commissioning, Service Design, and Safeguarding. Before joining The Fighting Chance he worked in central, regional, and local government both designing and delivering programmes.
Meet The Coaches
Sunni Torgman
Coach
A Boxing Coach, Personal Trainer and Hybrid Athlete, Sunni is originally from Australia and based in London since 2015. Studying sport science Sunni also works as a coach & personal trainer, is a Level 2 England Boxing Coach and hybrid athlete – competing as a strongwoman and boxer. Boxing achievements: National title in 2019; Gold medal at Haringey Boxing Cup; Won 2 gold medals at Golden Girls boxing cup in Sweden; Sunni also loves hummus and swearing.
Mark Reigate
Head Coach at Fitzroy Lodge Boxing Club
Mark is an ex-boxer with over 100 amateur bouts under his belt. He has been working as a boxing coach with young people for more than 10 years. He is currently Head Coach at Fitzroy Lodge Amateur Boxing Club (ABC), where he trains the senior boxers, runs the club, and organizes both charity and open boxing shows/dinners.
Tanya Silchenstedt
Assistant Coach
Tanya is a Charity Trustee, and a driving instructor with 15 years’ experience of helping young people learn how to drive. Tania joined The Fighting Chance supporting the Women Only and Veteran programmes. She knows from experience how boxing can help people improve physically and mentally.
Roy Summers
Coach
England L3 Boxing Coach at Rathbone ABC . England Boxing Coach Educator. L4 S & C Coach. Exercise for Parkinson’s Trainer
Roy is an England Boxing Level 3 Coach, England Boxing Coach Educator, and a Level 4 Strength and Conditioning Coach. He coaches at several amateur boxing clubs alongside delivering programmes for The Fighting Chance.
Rachel Bower
Coach
Former National Champion and England representative, Rachel has boxed in almost 50 bouts across the UK and USA. She now coaches for England and has recently been appointed as a GB Boxing Development Coach working with future Olympians in the GB Academy. Rachel also runs two amateur boxing clubs in London where she teaches the sweet science to local young people from throwing their first jab to competing in international tournaments. Rachel Coaches on several programmes for The Fighting Chance.
Michael Whitbread
Veteran recruitment and liaison
Larissa Wellington
Women Veteran Coordinator
Paul Whelan
Board Member
After an early (and short) career treading the boards, Paul moved into the world of research and insights. He has spent over 25 years working with global blue-chip organisations helping brands and products unlock commercial opportunities and direction. An ardent film fan, he is faintly embarrassed that he has seen Rocky II more times than Raging Bull.
Juha Williams
Board Member
Senior telecoms and IT professional for over 35 years. Believes strongly in the social value of sport and is keen to support the further development of The Fighting Chance.
Gresh Dave
Board Member
Gresh is a Founder and Director at H3O Digital, a Cloud Services Company, that specialise in migrating clients to Microsoft cloud services. H3O Digital are the core sponsor of the Fighting Chance providing boxing training equipment, fund raising and IT services.
