A LOUTH amateur boxer Sam McSpadden hopes to fulfil a lifelong dream by turning professional.
The 21-year-old scaffolder has been put forward to the British Boxing Board of Control for a professional licence by his manager Trevor Frater.
Frater’s professional boxing partner Mike Shinfield – who manages several leading boxers in the country – has already seen McSpadden spar with other professional boxers, and said he has what it takes to make the step up.
He now has to face board members before being told whether he will be given his licence.
He said: “This is what I always wanted to do since I can remember.
“I will put in the training, time and effort that it will take for me to succeed in my ambitions to put Louth on the boxing map.”
McSpadden is a member of T&J Pro-Am School of Boxing on Louth Trading Estate, which Mr Frater owns.
He would become Louth’s only current professional boxer.
“That is why this is not just big for me but it is also big for the town, and can only be good for Louth,” said McSpadden.
“There isn’t another pro boxer who is from Louth so it would be a great moment for me.
“This is an opportunity of a lifetime and I really want to take it.
“I have always been encouraged by my family to do it. My dad had his own gym and boxing has always been in the family.”
At amateur level he has boxed at light-middleweight but says as a professional he would prefer to fight at welterweight or light-welterweight.
McSpadden was bought his first pair of gloves by his father before he could walk.
The youngest of seven siblings, McSpadden joined Fabien Boxing Academy, aged five.
He lost contact with the sport in his later primary school years, before taking it back up as a teenager and joining the armed forces where he went 12 competitions undefeated.
After a spell in the army, he left to move back to Louth with his family, joining T&J.
His first ABA competition was at Sheffield Working Men’s Club and he stopped a fighter with vastly superior experience inside 50 seconds of the first round.
After 17 fights in a year, he remained undefeated.
Mr Frater said: “I helped him with his fitness levels and his boxing skills and he showed mass improvement immediately.
“I noticed that, in-line with new ABA rules, I was going to have to completely change Sam’s boxing style.
“I don’t see the point doing that and after speaking with Mike we came to the same conclusion about Sam’s boxing career and are going to put him forward for a professional licence.”
McSpadden has undergone a medical and a brain scan in preparation. He will go around the country sparring with other professionals.
T&J Pro-Am are looking for sponsors for McSpadden. Call Trevor Frater on 07854081736.
Via: Grimsby Telegraph