Joe Gallagher was a 17-year-old amateur boxer when he first stepped through the doors of Moss Side’s Champs Camp gym.

Over the years, he witnessed history as the gym’s founder, Phil Martin, turned an unheralded group of fighters into a feared team.

Maybe more importantly, the gym became a beacon of hope in a desperately troubled area and gave anybody associated with it a feeling of pride and belonging.

In 1993, Champs Camp was home to four reigning British champions.

Whether working with groups of young boxers during his days as a successful amateur coach or overseeing a stable full of champions during his time as a professional trainer, Gallagher has always adhered to the belief that whilst boxing is an individual sport, being part of a competitive, ambitious team helps a fighter's development.

The Ring's 2015 Trainer of the Year is now back at Champs Camp and is building a new team.

Some of the fighters who currently climb the stairs at the famous old gym are established championship-level operators whilst others are at the very beginning of their own professional journeys. But whoever he is working with, Gallagher’s method and ideology remains the same.

“I think this is my fifth team,” Gallagher told The Ring.

“I've always had a team of fighters that pushed each other. When you look at the last team and you look at Scott Quigg, he had — for example — Paul Butler, he had Stephen Smith, Scott Cardle. Anthony Crolla had Cardle, Stephen Smith and then he'd move with Liam Smith.

“The big guys, you had Callum Johnson, Hosea Burton, Callum Smith, Paul Smith. So there's little pockets of threes and fours that they're in-house sparring but like I was saying to the new team yesterday, they're sparring but it's still good sparring.”

Some trainers are happy for their fighters to train together and engage in light, technical sparring or but once the time for serious, hard work arrives, they bring in outside help to up the level of intensity and competition.

Gallagher obviously tailors his fighter’s preparations the closer a fight gets but — clearly believing in the adage that steel sharpens steel — he also likes his fighters to push each other every day. That shared experience doesn’t only help improve the fighters technically, it builds respect and tightens bonds — key aspects of any successful team.

“Scott Quigg and Stephen Smith used to try and take each other apart and drop each other to the body. Hosea Burton and Callum Smith was like a 12-round fight when they sparred but it wasn't personal, each knew what they had to do to sharpen each other's tools,” Gallagher remembered.

“Obviously you bring outside sparring in but I think that was key in the development of that team and that's what we're doing at the moment.”

Gallagher points to the collection of talented junior lightweights and lightweights who have assembled at his gym as the perfect example of how a group can bring the best out of each other.

“If you look around, Zelfa Barrett has got Josh Holmes [the English junior lightweight champion] to spar with,” he said. “He’s got Mohammed Alakel. He's got Hughie Malone. Four kids, one short, one tall, one medium, one the same height as him to bring him on. It’s not personal, it's just your job and it's just your business.”

Outside of that promising group, Gallagher believes that the work he has been putting in and the team spirit he has been fostering will begin to bring some reward over the next 18 months.

The WBC’s No. 1 heavyweight, Lawrence Okolie, is recovering from the torn biceps from his decision win over Kevin Lerena and is line for a title shot at some point in 2026 whilst former European cruiserweight champion, Jack Massey, is overdue a big fight.

Elsewhere in the gym, Billy Deniz looks to be on the verge of breaking through at light heavyweight, Mikie Tallon is racing towards a title fight at junior flyweight and Clark Smith is progressing steadily.

“We like a competitive [atmosphere] when we're doing sprints or when we're on the bag and swimming with the last team and that's what I'm trying to ingrain with this team now. Trying to get the pressure on them and then it's ready to go then for next year. That’s a big year, 2026-27 are the two big years where I'm expecting everyone to, as you say in boxing, walk through the doors and be fighting for titles.”