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Sport

22nd Sep 2018

Anthony Joshua raises £10,000 for re-offenders charity

Kyle Picknell

An auction of signed items and a meet and greet with the heavyweight champion has raised £10,000

Anthony Joshua and StubHub have raised £10,000 for the charity Key4Life.

An eBay auction was set up by StubHub and all of the proceeds have been donated to the charity, which focuses on reducing re-offending and gang-related crime through effective rehabilitation and mentoring programmes.

The eBay auction was won by Chris Hugo from Manchester, who’s winning bid brought him to the heart of the action with ringside seats for AJ’s fight against Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium. Chris also met the champion for a chat before he stepped into the ring having followed every one of AJ’s fights through his career.

As well as the ringside seats and meeting with AJ, fans also had the chance to bid on a plethora of signed gear including replica belts, gloves and photos. The proceeds of the auction totalled a fantastic £10,000 thanks to the generous bids from all the lot winners.

Auction winner, Chris, said: “It’s been such an amazing experience meeting AJ. He’s a class act and meeting him was a real-life defining moment which I’ll be telling friends and family about for years to come. Thanks to StubHub for the opportunity and best wishes to Key4Life who do fantastic work in the community, transforming the futures of people perfectly capable of recovering from taking the wrong path in life.”

Joshua, inspired by his own experiences, has long supported organisations that help disaffected and at-risk people in the UK. This is StubHub’s second partnership with Anthony Joshua to benefit a charity close to his heart after the successful ‘An Evening With Anthony Joshua’ also raised £10,000 for anti-knife crime charity, Steel Warriors.

Joshua said of the event: “It was a real pleasure to meet Chris and thank you for donating to a great cause and coming down to Wembley to support me!”

Wayne Grierson, Regional Manager Northern EMEA, StubHub, said: “StubHub has a commitment to giving back to communities across the UK and Key4Life stood out to ourselves and Anthony Joshua as being a great cause. We are really happy to have raised so much money and would like to thank Chris Hugo and the other winners for their generosity.”

Eva Hamilton MBE, CEO and Founder of Key4Life, said: “We are so pleased with the amount raised from the auction and would like to give massive thanks to Chris Hugo, StubHub and Anthony Joshua for making this happen. The money raised from this auction will go towards inspiring young people towards achieving their dreams and leaving crime behind.”