LONDON — The Ringside Charity Trust is campaigning to open a 36-bed specialist care home for retired boxers similar to facilities provided by the Jockey Club for former riders. The London-based charity also wants the British Boxing Board of Control to implement a compulsory levy on current boxers earning more than £1,000, increasing as fight purses get larger.

The charity runs a helpline for fighters in severe distress. Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua wore the Ringside Charity Trust logo on his attire for a fight with Jake Paul.

Robert Smith, general secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, opposes the proposed levy. "A compulsory levy is not appropriate," Smith said.

The board currently provides insurance for death and permanent injury for boxers. "We have a board insurance for death and permanent injury for a boxer. Which as you can imagine, given the nature of the sport, is very expensive," he said. No boxer has ever taken the option to top up their board insurance for death and permanent injury.

Past attempts to create pensions for boxers were met with a lack of interest. "Would I like to have a duty of care to ex-boxers? Yes. Financially, it's impossible," Smith said.

Louisa Revie, whose husband Jimmy is a former British boxing champion who now lives with dementia, supports the charity's efforts. The 78-year-old London boxer attends meetings with other ex-fighters. "When he goes to the meetings he comes alive because he sees all the old fighters, and they all say 'hello Jim' and they're all friendly," Louisa Revie said.

"They'd have their own nursing staff that know about boxing. They want to do a cinema in there so they could watch their old fights. And I think they would flourish in there," she said. Revie suggests a per-ticket donation of 50p or £1 could fund a specialist care home for retired boxers.

Stephen Smith, a coach from a family of boxers including former world champions Callum Smith and Liam Smith, described the isolation many fighters experience after retirement. "Your phone doesn't go again once you retire," Stephen Smith said. "It's sad but if there can be something in place to help look after fighters after the sport it's a massive, massive thing."

Terry Spinks, who won Olympic gold in boxing at the 1956 Melbourne Games, battled alcoholism and ended up in a clinic for brain injuries decades after winning Olympic gold. His cousin Rosemary Elmore gave up her career to care for Spinks on a carer's allowance before his death in 2012 at age 74.