{"id":614055,"date":"2026-05-31T18:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T18:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/614055\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T18:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T18:12:10","slug":"frank-brunos-in-derby-and-he-says-people-on-benefits-should-be-forced-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/614055\/","title":{"rendered":"Frank Bruno’s in Derby and he says people on benefits should be forced to work"},"content":{"rendered":"

The legend spoke to Derbyshire Live during the grand opening of new gym ‘Hooked Boxing & Fitness Club’ in Allestree\"Frank<\/p>\n

Frank Bruno spoke to Derbyshire Live at the launch of a new gym in the city(Image: Derby Telegraph)<\/p>\n

A British boxing legend<\/a> says those claiming benefits<\/a> should be forced to work in boxing gyms and at charities.<\/p>\n

Frank Bruno<\/a> spoke with Derbyshire Live<\/a> on Sunday (May 31) during the launch of Hooked Boxing and Fitness Club, a new gym in Allestree’s Park Farm Shopping Centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A crowd of around 50 people queued up around the block to see Frank cut the ribbon alongside owner Andy Liddle, which was followed by 90 minutes of meet-and-greets.<\/p>\n

Once we were inside, we had a quick chat with the man himself, who fought Mike Tyson twice and held the WBC heavyweight title between 1995 and 1996.<\/p>\n

Andy introduced us, followed by Frank chuckling: “Are you a journalist? I can tell.”<\/p>\n

\"Frank<\/p>\n

Ribbon-cutting and confetti cannons kicked off the grand opening(Image: Derby Telegraph)<\/p>\n

Taking it as a compliment, knowing full well it wasn’t, I asked Frank what it means to see a fresh new gym opening, likely paving the way for the next generation of boxers in the city.<\/p>\n

“It’s nice to see. It’s always great seeing new gyms opening up, and I was speaking to a lady called Annie just then, who’s showing great courage by turning up and getting in the ring. I’ve got to give her credit.”<\/p>\n

Speaking on Derby and his time there over the years, Frank added: “I like Derby a lot. I was here a few weeks ago doing one of my ‘evening with’ events, and it went well.”<\/p>\n

“Derby is great. The people here are lovely. Nice women you’ve got here as well,” he laughed.<\/p>\n

We also spoke briefly about boxing coming to Derby last year when Frazer Clarke took on Jeamie ‘TKV’ Tshikeva at Vaillant Live.<\/p>\n

“It’s good to see that. But this gym is great, and it’ll be great for people in Derby.<\/p>\n

“This is a great gym, you look around, and the way he [Andy] has done it is unbelievable.<\/p>\n

“We had a few more bags back in my day, but it’s hardcore here. It’s a strengthening gym that’s designed to get people super-fit. It’s an old-school, hard gym.”<\/p>\n

I then went on to ask Frank about a recent Instagram post he shared earlier this week to his 200,000 followers.<\/p>\n

\"Frank<\/p>\n

Frank Bruno and Andy Liddle(Image: Derby Telegraph)<\/p>\n

In the post, he said: “I am not a politician, I am just a former boxer who is now trying to help people with mental health, but why, oh why, don’t the benefits people make every 16-24-year-old who is claiming benefits work at a charity, a gym – there are so many options.<\/p>\n

“It’s not quite national service, but what a difference it would make.”<\/p>\n

Speaking on why he thinks boxing and charity work would make a difference, particularly in cities like Derby, he said: “They should do.<\/p>\n

“People haven’t got a job, or they don’t want a job. They’re lazy. It’s good for them to get a job like this to toughen them up and see how hard it is to train.<\/p>\n

“As I say, this is a strengthening gym, so I think it would do a lot of people some good.”<\/p>\n

The gym itself has a raw and dark feel to it, and it’s filled with pull-down machines, running machines and a host of other equipment.<\/p>\n

The gym is set to welcome a range of people from different backgrounds, whether they’re seasoned boxers or just beginning their fitness journey.<\/p>\n

Speaking on grand opening day, owner Andy Liddle said: “It’s a huge honour to have Frank opening the place today.<\/p>\n

“I rang him up and he said, ‘Brilliant, I’ll come down and see you’.<\/p>\n

“You get one chance to open, and it can be tricky. But having Frank here has been such a big help. We’ve had people queuing up outside and I’m sure it’s going to be a great day.<\/p>\n

“Hooked Boxing & Fitness Club is excited to bring a new era of fitness and boxing to Derby.<\/p>\n

“Having Frank join us for our grand opening is a dream come true, and we can\u2019t wait to welcome the community to experience our state-of-the-art facilities and dynamic classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone wishing to get involved can check out the Hooked Boxing & Fitness Club Facebook page or download the Hooked Boxing app for more details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The legend spoke to Derbyshire Live during the grand opening of new gym ‘Hooked Boxing & Fitness Club’…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[200369,2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-614055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-allestree","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}