A boxing legend visited children at a youth centre on Monday urging them to avoid gangs and crime.

Former world welterweight champion Lloyd Honeyghan signed photos for children at the Palace Road Project in Streatham Hill and spoke to them about life after the looting and rioting in south London.

Condemning the violence in Brixton and Streatham, he said: "You cannot hurt the country you live in because, if you do, you hurt yourself."

Members of the Palace Project’s radio team interviewed Honeyghan on air and asked him what he thought about life for Lambeth’s youth.

He said: "The medicine for the country is discipline. Imagine what our parents went through. There is no hardship now, it is easy.

"Today, all the black kids have got everything they want and more.

"You can educate yourself if you want to; it is free. The way black people can get out of poverty is through education."

Project leader Glen Neil hopes to co-ordinate similar events with members of the boxing fraternity in the future.

He said: "It went really well. Lloyd was very direct. He did not mince his words. He comes from the West Indian tradition of discipline.

"He made himself tangible by coming into an estate which a lot of people don’t want to come into."