Teenager becomes UKs youngest ever pro boxer and | Boxing News

Callum Dan turned the UK’s youngest skilled boxer at simply a month previous his sixteenth birthday and secured an spectacular debut win in Thailand. After celebrating his sixteenth birthday in March and amidst getting ready for his GCSEs, Dan, below the mentorship of coach Marlee Dann, has already made waves along with his paid boxing debut during the Easter break. Dan dominated in a welterweight match towards Thai opponent Noy Vongsoudounag, halting the bout within two rounds on the Thai Payak Boxing Gym positioned in Thanyaburi, on the outskirts of Bangkok, on April 6.

Callum despatched his debutant opponent to the canvas and then launched a barrage in spherical two which led to a straight KO. The teenager stays in Thailand readying himself for an additional skilled face-off slated for April 24 earlier than he heads back home to Plymouth. Although he’s not eligible for a British Boxing Board of Control licence as a result of age restrictions, Dan secured his skilled standing through the Thai Federation, which accepts fighters from the age of 15. 

Marlee Dann, who trains Callum at Intense ABC in Honicknowle, praised his trainee’s background of over 30 beginner fights. Coach Dann informed Plymouth Live: “Callum was an elite amateur as a junior and as a youth, but he was at that point where he started disappearing from the gym – I spoke to his dad, who was concerned that he was turning his back on boxing, so I said I would talk to him.”

“He just said to me that he’d had 30 amateur contests, never felt like he had been outclassed but that some of the decisions hadn’t gone his way, and being from the South West, everything is against us.

“So I spoke to his dad who spoke to a couple of associates, and he managed to get some sponsorship to help pay for the associated fee of flights and lodging, and I introduced him out right here. He had his debut on the sixth, and has his subsequent battle on the twenty fourth.

“He’s not licensed under the British Boxing Board of Control, he is licensed under the Thai Federation, but it’s no different really.”

Callum is more likely to must return to south-east Asia to box till he reaches 18, however by then his coach believes he could possibly be nicely versed in combating in longer contests – with amateurs restricted to a few rounds solely.

Dann mentioned: “I think the key to it is that he is jumping over other people… Callum could well be 11-0 in his first 18 months to two years, so by the time he is 18 he will be ahead of those boxers who have spent years building up their skills and their record.

“[In the UK] I may have Callum within the health club for 2 years, persuade him to box as an beginner for 2 more years, then if he turned pro on the age of 18 he has to go down the identical path as different boxers who’ve spent years combating solely 3 times a 12 months.

“It’s tortuous – you look at other boxers and they finish their career because of inactivity. They go from fighting as an amateur every week or every other week to then only being able to fight three times a year.”

“But how are you meant to adjust to fighting four threes, six threes or eight three-minute rounds when you are only fighting three times a year? Or four if you are very lucky?” He speaks of lucky Asian connections which have opened doorways: “I am in a fortunate position where I have met some very good people in Asia, and they have given me the opportunity as they consider me as their friend to put my fighters on.

“Callum is now the youngest skilled boxer within the UK at 16 years and one month, and is one win and no defeats.

“I think the direction for him is that when you look at some of the greatest boxers of all time, and what age they turned professional, they were relatively young – not all but most of them.”

Dann attracts inspiration from an iconic champion: “Look at Manny Pacquiao – he had 10 fights and 10 wins at 17. So when you sit there you think ‘if it worked for him, why can’t it work for other people’ – there’s nothing wrong with going down other paths and other routes.”

“At the end of the day, if you’ve had 30 amateur contests you know if you are made for the professionals – if you’ve been in with the best in the country or the best in Europe you know what you are capable of. And if you have that self-belief then you know where you have to adjust.

“The most important factor is that the particular person you’ve got acquired is within the health club coaching, sparring with elite people, and being what they’re meant to be. If they’re meant to be a six-round or an eight-round fighter then they must be skilled to be that.

“Callum is extremely lucky as he is being given the right guidance in his life at a point where he could either go left or go right. He either walks away from boxing and accepts that he was a decent amateur, or he turns right and chases the dream, which is crazy, but I think most of the people in the western world are not promoted to chase their ambitions.

“For him to chase ambitions it’s a dream for the subsequent three to 5 years and if it pans out for him then what a story for him.”