Jordan Reynolds: Boxing made me into a man
Ahead of his highly-anticipated professional debut on next Friday's #MTKFightNight, Jordan Reynolds has opened up on the incredible journey he has been on to get to this point.
Reynolds enters the paid ranks on March 12 when he faces former Southern Area title challenger Robbie Chapman (6-6) at the University of Bolton Stadium, live on ESPN+ in association with Top Rank, and worldwide on IFL TV.
The 25-year-old had a dazzling amateur career, winning a number of extremely impressive accolades, but he has revealed how it hasn't always been plain sailing for him in his life.
Reynolds said:"It's been a mad journey. I was hanging around the streets when I grew up and got kicked out of school at around 14 or 15 and that's when I started boxing. I ended up working full time at the gym in Stevenage from 10 in the morning to 10 at night to try and stay out of trouble.
"I was living boxing. Before that I had no respect or morals, but I learned it all at the gym and being there helped me get disciplined and grow into a man.
"I had my first fight at 16 and after only a few fights I was entered into the ABAs, so that was sink or swim. I was going up against people who had 60 or 70 fights, and I managed to box six times against the best fighters around and got all the way to the final.
"I thought to myself, I've got something here, so I looked around at the other gyms that were successful and thought I need to get there.
"I was broke back then and had no money, so I was selling my clothes and selling my Playstation to try and get to these gyms. My mum was even selling her jewellery to help give me a chance, so we managed to raise a few hundred quid to pay for train fare so I could box at West Ham.
"I won my first national title there within a few months, and then got a job at St Pancras too, so that was helping to pay the train fares. I was still getting into trouble back at home, so some of my family in Essex asked if I wanted to move there, and it really helped.
"It was hard to leave my mum and my family, but I had a dream in my head. I went on to win the Senior ABAs, box for England, get onto Team GB and win international tournaments too, and now is the right time to turn professional."
Elsewhere on the huge #MTKFightNight on March 12, Lewis Crocker defends his WBO European welterweight title against Deniz Ilbay, Gary Cully squares off with Viktor Kotochigov for the vacant WBO European lightweight title, Isaac Lowe returns, Sahir Iqbal faces Liam Wells, Adam Azim is back in action, plus Carl Fail enters the paid ranks for the first time too.
It kicks off a huge 7 days, as on March 19, a massive #MTKFightNight takes place, as Lee McGregor challenges Karim Guerfi for his European bantamweight title, and Maxi Hughes meets Paul Hyland Jnr for the vacant British lightweight title.
The event on March 19 also sees Padraig McCrory face Germaine Brown in a clash of unbeaten super-middleweights, Shabaz Masoud goes up against Louis Norman, Jamie Robinson fights Billy Allington, Paul Ryan makes his professional debut against Kyle Hughes, and William Hamilton returns.
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