IN a sweat-soaked gym, heavily muscled Matt Legg now punches a heavy bag, not other people.

Fighters like him are packed into Oakmead ABC, a club that is more than ‘rough and ready’.

You have to dodge the swinging fists and step over stray car tyres.

Where would Matt be, if not here?

“I would probably be fighting, getting drunk,” he said, panting for breath after a run.

“I used to watch the football and have fights.”

Joe Hayes, 28, a carpenter from Bear Wood, recently got to the ABA finals at 67kg, and built one of the rings himself.

He said: “John is willing to put the effort in with you 110 per cent if you are willing to put it in.

“I don’t know a weekend when he is not away taking someone to a fight.”

John is John Hamerston, who looks on with an almost parental pride.

The 44-year-old set up this club in West Howe five years ago and it moved into this former changing room near Elmrise Primary two years ago.

The council was on the verge of demolishing the decaying building.

“To say the club is rough and ready is an understatement,” said Bournemouth Cllr Dave Smith, who boxed as a young man.

“John has taken a lot of rough and tumble lads off the streets.”

Matt Legg, 18, a labourer from Ensbury Park, is one of those lads and is now a Western Counties champion at 75kg.

He would come home from school, suspended, and get barred from training.

He said. “I had to behave in school. It sort of disciplined me.”

The club is small and low-roofed. Mirrors, magazine clippings and motivational slogans decorate the walls.

The members have fixed up the building on a shoestring. The kids daubing graffiti on the outside wall were persuaded to paint it properly. The kit has been begged and borrowed.

Lynn Launder, 36, of West Howe, mum of one 13-year-old fighter, said: “I like knowing my Johnny comes here in the evening. It gives him something to do and gets him off the streets.”

John makes no money from the club – it’s run on a not for profit basis.

He is proud of his club, but points out that all boxing clubs help young potential trouble makers. When asked about their style, he says with relish: “We train our fighters to be strong and aggressive.”

Latvian Juta Vejina has a sweet smile but she is a demon in the ring, The 24-year-old from Southbourne has just become national champion at 63.5kg.

She said: “It’s not about the gym, it’s not about the place, it’s not about the bags, it’s not about the ring.

“It’s about the trainer. John doesn’t do it for money, he does it for passion.”