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GLORY ROAD.
(A documentary film currently in production, to be released post London Olympics 2012)

Directed by Steve Read
Produced by Rob Alexander and Robert Douglas
Additional direction and editing by Matt Sellers
Digital media by Anorak
Music by John Fairhurst

Liverpool is a fighting town and boxing is its blood. It flows with a force through every Scouse lad's veins, like the River Mersey flows through this great city. It is relentless.
This a city of tension and hardship. You can't avoid it -- the harsh reality of life in Liverpool is evident. The front pages of The Liverpool Echo keep us abreast of such things on a daily basis.
So too is the Scouse Humour™ , the Scouser's unflinching desire to succeed and a point blank refusal to give in. All these elements inform the Scouser's undying love of boxing.
That spirit is evident in every man and woman I've come to interview for this documentary. Liverpool, I've come to understand, is the city that will never throw in the towel.

"Boxing is the world's biggest drug, it's an addiction no one can ever explain". These are the words of 1984 Boxing Olympian John Hyland. His words resonate, they ring clear like the final bell of the 2010 ABA Championships, when Anthony Fowler taking the Senior Title home from the York Hall for the first time. It's every young amateur boxer's dream. Only one achievement in amateur boxing ranks higher.

John Hyland knows, he's been there, just as he's there every Thursday night at Liverpool's beloved Golden Gloves Amateur Boxing Club in the South End of the city. He goes to watch future Olympians in the making, including his own son, Blane Hyland. He looks on with pride as they go through hours of rigorous exercise with unquestioned commitment, under the watchful eye of legendary trainer Georgie Treble. Meanwhile, his counterpart Mick McAllister, hones his considerable stable at the Rotunda ABC in the North End of the city.

Fowler's boxing year ends in anguish as he loses the 2010 GB Championship's gold medal prize to another Olympic hopeful, Callum Smith. In 2011 he'll be back to challenge once more - he knows only one boxer can take that prestigious 69kg place on the GB squad. Callum's convinced it's his spot to take; Anthony's got other ideas. Watch this space to see who gets the decision. Like the South and North Ends and Liverpool and Everton Football Clubs, expect this rivalry to run and run. Expect our documentary Glory Road to be there every step of the way.

Like John, Georgie and Mick we've also been there. For over a year now we've been following these exceptional athletes as they make their journey to London for the 2012 Olympic Games. Their goal is to stake their claim for Olympic boxing glory. We'll be there also in July 2012, to show you how the story ends.

Along with Fowler and Smith, we've met and interviewed some of the leading amateur heroes of the past and present -- the aforementioned John Hyland, Joey Frost, Robbie Davies, Roy Jones Jnr, Tom Stalker, James Degale and Jazza Dickens. Then there's Natasha Jones, a history-maker in her own right as part of the first generation of women to compete for boxing gold at the Olympics.

But will she make it to London 2012? That's just one of a thousand unanswered questions in this complex web of real life stories. In the merry-go-round of docu-soaps stars and disposal icons, this film represents the real lives of true athletes with exceptional stories, competing for something truly special, Amateur Boxing's Olympic Glory.

'Boxing never stops, it's like religion and it will always be there.'

Follow the hopes, dreams and prayers of these exceptional sportsmen and women on their journey to London 2012 - The Glory Road.

Steve Read.
Director.

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