Joe Calnan
Inner City Boxing & Youth Development
Mentoring and Boxing Coach
Shay Sullivan
Education Tutur / Mentor and Boxing Coach
Haverhill Inner City Boxing Club to Induct Three to Wall of Fame
WHAV News Staff By WHAV News Staff | January 5, 2024
The Haverhill Inner City Boxing Club will induct one of its late founders and two other luminaries during a public ceremony, demonstrations and a tour next week.
The three new inductees to the Club’s Wall of Fame are the late Joe Calnan, who co-founded the club with present board President Joe Ferguson in 2013; the late Ann Marie Farley, a much-beloved club supporter whose son Sean now serves as the Club’s head trainer; and the late Shay Patrick Sullivan, a longtime volunteer, tutor, board member and Club president.
In a statement, the Haverhill Inner City Boxing Club said Calnan loved boxing and took great pride in training and mentoring the city’s youth, while Farley’s voice was ever present during fights and her encouragement of members was legendary and Sullivan was a beloved teacher at Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School.
Members will also demonstrate basic to advanced boxing skills that will include synchronized punching bag practice, shadow boxing and brief sparring sessions. In addition, Club representatives to the 2024 Golden Gloves tournament will be formally announced. They are Amber Caldwell, Billerica; Delanna Palmisano, Haverhill; and Yancy Quinonez, Haverhill. The Club’s 2024 Capital Campaign is just underway, seeking donations to improve its main gym and cardio/strength fitness studio and provide additional training opportunities and youth mentoring. Donors will be recognized at a new Friends of the Haverhill Inner City Boxing Club area to be unveiled at the Open House. The club serves more than 150 members from Haverhill, the lower Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire. It is a registered nonprofit organization that has served more than 900 members, ages from 10 to 25, since its founding in 2013.