Gallagher is from the Benchill area of Wythenshawe, a district of south Manchester, and has been at the forefront of the city's modern boxing success.

Many of his great nights took place at the famous AO Arena, slap bang in the city centre. Latterly, the shiny, new Co-op Live Arena has started to develop into Manchester's leading venue.

The Wythenshawe Forum was once a regular stop on the British boxing circuit but has been sadly forgotten.

Last Saturday, Black Flash Promotions took boxing back to the Forum for the first time in eight years and Gallagher returned home with five of his latest prospects.

Gallagher has achieved all there is to do in the sport but taking his latest group of youngsters to a venue literally five minutes from the streets he grew up on elicits a clear and genuine sense of pride.

"It was great to get back there. I started there in 1980 when Wythenshawe ABC had its first night opening up," Gallagher told The Ring. "I went through the doors that night in January 1980."

The night was much more than a nostalgia fuelled trip down memory lane.

Every young boxer dreams of fighting in large arenas on live television but slots on major shows can be hard to come by. Gallagher would much rather his young fighters keep their tools sharp than spend months hitting the heavy bag and waiting for a six-round slot on a high-profile undercard.

Gallagher's fighters respect him too much to question his methods but he still took the chance to remind them that some of Manchester's best ever fighters and — some British boxing greats — cut their teeth at the Forum.

"The ABA's [National Amateur Championships] were always here. Pat Barrett, Maurice Core, Mario Culpepper, Clive Smith, Darren McCarrick. Everyone back in the day fought here," Gallagher said.

"As pros, the amount of fighters that have fought here, people don't realise. It's like the York Hall of the north. Joe Calzaghe fought here, Carl Thompson fought here, Michael Brodie won the British title here, Junior Witter fought here, Jamie Moore, Michael Gomez. There's some fighters that have gone through the doors here."

Gallagher's Champs Camp gym contingent did him proud.

Mikie Tallon (14-0, 3 KOs) has made a name for himself fighting on several massive Ring events but the flyweight has remained consistently busy on smaller shows. He got six rounds under his belt against Peru's Diego Tananta.

Promising middleweight Clark Smith (12-0, 1 KO) — whose father boxed at the venue — and featherweight prospect Huey Malone (6-0, 3 KOs), remained unbeaten. Recent super middleweight recruit Taz Nadeem (9-1, 5 KO’s) was back to winning ways after a career-first loss in November during a three-round divisional tournament.

Benchill middleweight Kieran McDaid (6-0) got his sixth win in eight months and has yet to lose a round. The 22-year-old, a graduate of The Joe Gallagher Academy, is one of the quietly burgeoning success stories from an organisation Gallagher founded to provide youngsters with top class coaching and a quality education.

Frazer Clarke, Lawrence Okolie, Jack Massey and Zelfa Barrett are among the large experienced group within Gallagher's stable, with the 57-year-old having always tried to foster a strong team environment. While youngsters inevitably pick up tips and habits watching how the established names conduct their business, he believes their enthusiasm rubs off on the more experienced crop, preventing them from getting jaded.

"Young blood motivates old blood and when you've got five or six kids fighting on a one show, it does create that team atmosphere," he said.

"That us against the world attitude and the 'I can't lose tonight if he's fighting' feel, there's that competitive spirit amongst us all. There's that brotherhood where they join each other in trying to get the best for one another and it's been like that throughout. They'll have a few days off, back at the end of the week and some out again in July."

Everything at Champs Camp runs through Gallagher but he has spent years developing McGowan — whose father boxed alongside Gallagher for Wythenshawe ABC — Marcus Morrison and former world featherweight champion Scott Quigg into trusted assistants capable of shouldering some work.

Gallagher relied on the trio during a demanding evening, spent shuttling back-and-forth between the changing room and ring. Elsewhere, cornerwoman Natalie Lewis was busy wrapping hands while tending to cuts and bruises.

On Monday, Gallagher was back to work preparing his other fighters for their upcoming assignments but soon, the youngsters will be back in and the countdown will start to the next glut of fights.

"That's just life at a gym," Gallagher said.

"It just keeps going and it's great for them to have that moment in time so they've all fought on that show together. They can all look back on it in years to come, the same way as when I used to have many fighting at the arena - Anthony Crolla, Quigg, Stephen Smith, Hosea Burton, Callum Johnson, Scott Cardle - running back-and-forth.

"So it's nothing new to us but good for building that team mentality, getting everyone's ego and confidence going, part of something successful, something winning and being part of something rather than being on their own."