Honour for boxing's Len

Shropshire boxing stalwart Len Woodhall has been recognised for his dedication to the sport with a special lifetime achievement award.

Len, father of Olympic medalist and former world champion Richie Woodhall, received a commemorative plaque from the British Boxing Board of Control at the Midlands area county awards.

The 68-year-old is still active in the sport today, coaching at his son's gym in Aston, Birmingham, where he is involved with a programme aimed at helping young offenders.

The award came as a complete surprise to Woodhall, who admitted: "They must have appreciated what I've done over the years.

"I started boxing when I was young but I really knuckled down about 50 years ago.

"When I came to Telford there was nothing here at all, but then I went to give a hand at Woodside ABC and then Telford and it took on from there.

"We had no money at all and I remember Richie and Brian Robb (now the coach of Shrewsbury ABC) boxed on four boxes I put together in the middle of the room to try and make a ring – they fell through them.

"I used to have 60 or 70 boxers a night and I must have had 50 Richie Woodhalls over the years. Sometimes they come up to me now and say: 'Good God, if only I'd listened to what you used to say.'

"I'm 68 now but, as far as I'm concerned, I'm as old as I want to be. The time to retire is when you're horizontal in a box.

"I was in a car smash coming back from a boxing show in Hereford back in the early 1980s and I broke my leg in six places.

"If I'd listened to people then I'd have gone years ago, but I told the doctor that whatever I'd done before the accident I'd do again."

For all his own highlights, it is the success of his son Richie that gives Woodhall snr the most pride.

Woodhall saw his son win Commonwealth gold and Olympic bronze before turning pro and going on to be world champion.

"I turned pro myself because I knew where Richie was going," he added. "I told him when he was 11 he was going to the Games and that he would win a medal.

"When he won the world title it was one of the greatest nights of my life, but the biggest accolade was when he won that medal at the Olympics because I remembered I'd told him he was going to do it all those years ago."