BOXING CLEVER

‘AS A PRO, I KNOCKED DOWN FOUR OF MY FIRST SEVEN OPPONENTS WITH THE FIRST PUNCH OF THE FIGHT’

MY brother Cliff is five years older than me and he started boxing at Victoria Park ABC in Cardiff when he was seven. I followed him into the sport when I was seven.

I had about 30 exhibition bouts before having my first proper fight at nine. I was a little whirlwind and I went on to win five Welsh Schoolboy titles for Victoria Park. At the age of 16 I had 18 months off boxing in order to concentrate on my school exams, although I was still constantly training. Just after my 18th birthday I moved to Penarth ABC because Victoria Park wasn’t a great club for seniors at the time.

At Penarth I won four Welsh ABA titles – light-middleweight in 1985, middleweight in 1987 and 1988, and light-heavyweight in 1989. I was runner-up at the British ABAs in 1988 at middleweight. I was struggling at the weight and I lost to Mark Edwards of the Navy in the final. I moved up to light-heavyweight in 1989 and in the final I fought another Navy boxer,