On the 20th anniversary of his son Kiyan’s death, former boxer Dr Mark Prince has launched The Champions’ Club through the Kiyan Prince Foundation, aiming to inspire young people across the UK and present a practical blueprint for change.
Kiyan Prince, a promising youth player at QPR, was fatally stabbed outside the London Academy in Edgware on 18 May 2006 after intervening in a confrontation. The attacker, Hannad Hasan, was later convicted. Prince has since devoted himself to campaigning against knife crime and supporting young people at risk.
The Champions’ Club is framed as an extension of the foundation’s long-running work: outreach in schools, trauma-informed support for families and young people, and programmes designed to shift mindsets and build resilience. To mark 20 years, Prince published a 20-point blueprint — one recommendation for each year since Kiyan’s death — that includes 10 specific asks of policymakers. Key asks include better pay and recognition for youth workers, longer-term investment in community services, and greater influence for local voices in designing programmes.
Prince says the approach focuses on prevention rather than punishment: “Hurt people are hurting people. If we can get to the hurt people, then we can start reducing all the people that they’re hurting.” The foundation runs assemblies and development courses to help young people find purpose, identity and resilience, with the aim of steering them away from crime and prison.
The Champions’ Club will seek public and corporate partners to sponsor places for young people and provide the resources to scale the work. The campaign has an initial fundraising ambition of £400,000 to establish a new youth space dedicated to Kiyan’s legacy. Foundation research among 16- to 24-year-olds found 75% of respondents say it is hard being young in the UK today, reinforcing the charity’s sense of urgency.
Prince has also spoken about his personal journey with grief and forgiveness. He has described how holding on to bitterness would only imprison him emotionally and limit his ability to help others, and said he even attempted to meet Hasan in prison but chose forgiveness as part of his own healing and outreach work.
A former light-heavyweight contender, Prince had a respectable professional boxing career: 23 wins with 18 knockouts and a single defeat to WBO champion Dariusz Michalczewski. Forced to retire at 30 because of injury, he reflects on his career with pride and says the lessons of sport — preparation, development and resilience — inform his charity work.
Prince also commented on the development of young boxers, urging patience. He praised Olympic medallist Ben Whittaker’s talent but warned against rushing prospects into elite opposition too soon, citing dominant champions in the division who can derail careers if fighters are pushed prematurely.
The Champions’ Club is intended to be a vehicle for growth: a way to expand the foundation’s reach, attract corporate partners, and involve the public in sponsoring personal development for young people. More information about the Kiyan Prince Foundation and its programmes is available on the foundation’s website.