A HAMPSHIRE boxer has pledged to fight youth crime in the city - if he's given the chance to open his own sports club.

Top boxing coach Stuart Gill has promised he'll halve the crime rate on a Southampton estate if he gets the cash backing.

Stuart says it would take three years to slash crime in Millbrook if the Outer Shirley Regeneration Board stump up the cash to open a club in Mansel Park.

Stuart, who co-runs the Golden Ring Boxing Club in Freemantle, is certain Millbrook could become a boxing hotbed if he was given about £250,000 to open a gym.

He said he drew up an application last year to convert disused football changing rooms into a gym but it fizzled out before reaching the committee.

Now he's urging the board to take notice of his fresh bid.

"We could get half these kids off the street," he said. "I'm certain of that and I'll stand by it.

"We get around 70 kids each week in Freemantle but we don't have room for any more and we'll have to be out of there in two years because the rent is going up. The kids hanging around Millbrook at the moment are looking up to older kids who are involved in crime. It's a circle.

"The kids want something to do. Why not something that is healthy and physically challenging for them? In our gym they learn how to take care of their body through diet and exercise and they get a feeling of belonging to a club that's really for them."

Stuart and a team of volunteers at the boxing club are working on the idea with the Outer Shirley RegenerationBoard.

Sue Fletcher, chairman of the board, said she was keen to take it forward.

"I am keen that we work closely with the boxing club to help them to help them explore different ways of bringing more sporting activities into the area and we are organising a meeting with the club in the new year."

However, she added that there was great pressure on the limited pot of regeneration cash.

"It must be spent meeting many targets including improving health and education, reducing crime and unemployment and enhancing the living environment," she said.

Inspector David Harrison, Inspector for Shirley North and a member of the Outer Shirley Regeneration Board said that while he would not make claims that crime could be reduced in the area if a boxing club was built, sporting activities for youngsters in the area were to be encouraged.

He said: "We would certainly welcome anything which encourages youngsters turning away from activities that are anti-social."