Six years ago, Syrian migrant Abdallah Tabbaa opened a gym at Lakemba in Sydney's south-western suburbs.

Mr Tabbaa raised $3 million to build the sports centre after he became concerned about the lack of facilities for young people in the area.

"There was nothing at all. They used to change their soccer outfits in the field which was embarrassing," Mr Tabbaa said.

"I spoke to some people and said, 'why can't we build something here?' And that's how it started, it was like a dream."

Today thousands of young people from Lakemba, Wiley Park and surrounding areas use the sports centre to play indoor soccer, basketball and train in boxing and taekwondo.

Mr Tabbaa said the local community was more focused on religion than sport.

"Ten years ago I started building this place. We didn't have many resources because the people in this area didn't believe in sports," he said.

"They believed in building mosques. I had to convince some of them that if you lose them to prison, they can't go to the mosques."

The Syrian-born migrant grew up in Nigeria and moved to Australia in 1973.

Former Junior Australian Lightweight boxing champion Jack Michael said the centre has taken the pressure off parents. ( ABC News )

Mr Tabbaa said growing up in Africa and attending a Catholic boarding school gave him a broader view of the world.

"I don't cater for the Arabs only. I cater to 33 nationalities. It gives me great pleasure to get the different religions together," he said.

"When they come here they have to respect each other or I kick them out."

When asked about the risk of Muslim youths becoming radicalised and being drawn to extremist groups like Islamic State (IS), Mr Tabbaa said that he had seen many young Muslims turned away from crime and violence by encouraging local teenagers to join a sport like soccer or boxing.

"I'm a great believer that prevention is better than cure. Once you give young men responsibilities, you can take them off the streets and bring them away from destructive behaviour," he said.

"Build facilities like this in other communities that don't have anything and you watch how things will improve."

Boxing coach says building confidence a big part of the program

Boxing coach Tony Michael teaches young children and adults at the centre.

"I've got kids coming in here who have got no money, we let them in for free," he said.

"What are you going to say to them? 'Go roll an old guy outside Canterbury Leagues Club and bring some money?' You can't do that, you've got to stop that."

Mr Michael says not all young teenagers who are involved with crime are turned around by the sport, but some have been shown a better path.

"Look sometimes nothing helps them. But it's worth doing. Oddly enough, I've seen a lot of kids that we thought had no hope in the world of doing anything but then they turned out well," he said.

The boxing coach said that helping young people lose weight was a big part of the boxing program.

"It's not just the kids who are on the edge, a lot of kids who come here after school are overweight," he said.

"They get picked on because they are fat. Not only does boxing build their confidence because they can fight back, but they lose the weight."

Former Junior Australian Lightweight boxing champion Jack "the Knife" Michael, also trains at the gym.

He said the sports centre had taken the pressure off parents and given thousands of young children something to do after school.

"When we first came here, you had all these blocks with 10 kids shoved in there," he said.

"When the gym opens the parents get the kids out of the house. We look after them for a couple of hours."

Mr Tabbaa said he was taught to box in Nigeria as a child and wanted to see the sport made available to local children.

"We had a coach who was the Nigerian champion at the time. It's very good for children at this age, it's beautiful, I am happy that these people can take part in the sport that I was able to do. God bless them," he said.

Mr Tabbaa has had cancer for the past 20 years. The disease has now spread to his bones and he may not have long to live.

Despite his illness he said he was confident the sports centre would keep going.

"I've got about 20 people now controlling this place. Some of them are financial people in banks, some of them are police, some know members of Parliament, so it's in good hands," he said.

"I'm telling you this place will be here for the next 1,000 years."