A burglar broke into a boxing club used by disadvantaged kids and stole expensive equipment.
Volunteers at the Moss Side Fire Station Boxing Club were shocked to find gloves - worth up to £100 a pair - had been taken from a storeroom when they opened on Saturday morning.
The thief is understood to have broken into the club on Friday night after 10.30pm.
A number of Grant and Reyes branded boxing gloves were taken.
The gym is on the grounds of Moss Side Fire Station, on Denhill Road, and is run by firefighters in their spare time.
More than 250 children use the gym every week, with many coming from troubled backgrounds.
Members are aged as young as five-years-old and many continue to use the gym as adults.
The burglary has been reported to Greater Manchester Police. Officers are reviewing CCTV footage.
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Nigel Travis, a firefighter and head coach at the gym, described the incident as 'sacrilegious' and is appealing for the return of the gloves.
He told the Manchester Evening News: "Regardless of the value, it is morally disgusting.
"We are a charity. We use boxing to give kids a positive future and a change of trajectory to give them the life skills to make the best descions.
"We get a lot of children from problematic backgrounds.
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"We have a respect wall telling kids to respect the community, respect the gym users and your parents. And then we have had this person come in and cause disrespect."
Nigel added: "He is jeopardising other people's future. I am absolutely fuming, it is disgusting what he has done.
"It is not a witch hunt, I just want my gloves back and to show him what he is doing."
Volunteers at the gym are appealing for people in the area to keep an eye out for the gloves on buy-and-sell sites.
They are appealing for any witnesses to come forward and for the safe return of the equipment.
Anyone with further information can contact GMP on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
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