A dream came true for Warrington based Anthony Joshua Superfan Chris Hugo when he met the boxing champion in aid of re-offending reduction charity Key4Life.
Chris, from Appleton, won an auction of signed items and and a chance to meet and greet with the victorious heavyweight champion raising £10,000 for the charity.
Ticket agency StubHub and Anthony Joshua are delighted to have raised £10,000 for the charity Key4Life, following the eBay auction which was won by Chris, who’s winning bid brought him to the heart of the action with ringside seats for AJ’s win against Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.
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.
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.
“As a CEO who was at one time a youth heading down the wrong path, I feel blessed to be able to contribute to such an important cause and actually get to meet AJ as a result, what a privilege.”
To find out more about Chris’ journey from his home, to meeting AJ and to the fight itself check out the video above. The video shows how Chris himself overcame early setbacks to succeed and films him meeting Anthony at the pre-fight weigh in where they talk about overcoming adversity and the positive impact that boxing can have on young people’s lives.
As well as the ringside seats and meeting with AJ, fans also had the chance to bid on a plethora of signed AJ 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.
All proceeds from the eBay auction set up by StubHub, the official ticketing partner of Matchroom Boxing in partnership with Anthony Joshua, are donated to Key4Life, a charity that focuses on reducing re-offending and gang-related crime through effective rehabilitation and mentoring programmes.
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’ raised £10,000 for anti-knife crime charity, Steel Warriors.
Anthony Joshua said: “I’m really pleased that my latest collaboration with StubHub has raised so much money for Key4Life. 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.”
