Boxing News Boxing News
Middleweight Lee Crossland, who trains out of the Venture pro gym in Birkenhead, England, has turned professional this week.
Crossland is making his debut on the Brian Rose vs. Vivian Harris undercard at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool on October 5th in a four round fight at middleweight (11st 6lbs).
Damian Jones (Astley VIP pro boxing) recently signed Crossland, who is trained by Danny Kelly and Sean Trodden, to a management contract.
Crossland said, “I started boxing at the age of 20. I was getting myself into trouble with alcohol, boxing disciplined me and and gave me something to focus on.
“I’ve been boxing on and off for seven years. But alcohol addiction got a hold of me, not ashamed to say this, and I hit a rock bottom in my life where I needed help.
“Now after battling with alcohol addiction, it feel like now’s the time to finish the chapter off in my boxing career and fulfill what I always wanted to achieve.”
Crossland first started his amateur boxing career in Southport, where he trained at the Southport ABC, with Jon Lund.
With Crossland’s tricky southpaw style and hard work ethic in the gym, it was clear he was a talent at the sport and made a good impact in the gym straight away.
In an effort to improve himself, he moved his training to Kirkby ABC where great champions trained, such as John Conteh and Paul Hodgkinson, aka ‘Hoko’.
Crossland picked up an amateur record of 13 wins (7 KO’s) and 1 loss while fighting against some great competition along the way.
The southpaw fought as a semi-professional as well and his record was 6-0 (5 KO’s).
Crossland fought his amateur and semi-professional career at super middleweight (12st) and now as he has turned pro, he has moved down to middleweight (11st 6lbs).
The style of Crossland is much more suited to the professional game and he clearly wants to make an early impact by moving down in weight.
The Scouser feels a lot more comfortable at the lower weight class as he is fighting people more his height, but he is feeling a lot faster and still as strong.
Making the development from amateur and semi pro to pro is clearly a step up and moving down in weight, I feel, is a wise move for Crossland as he looks to start his career with a win.
Crossland is under a one year contract with manager Damian Jones and he is looking to also get in one more fight before the end of 2012.
He could potentially be fighting at the Olympia in Liverpool in December with three other professionals from his gym. Hopefully Crossland can make a positive start in 2012 and get two good wins under his belt.
Under the guidance of Jones, Crossland has good potential to make an impact in the professional game. He clearly has the amateur and semi-professional pedigree to compete at the professional level.
I wish all the best to Crossland for his professional debut and I have no doubts that he is going to perform well in his first fight. I know he is ready for this and cannot wait to make an impact in the professional ranks.
Hopefully, Crossland will keep active and will progress into a strong fighter in 2013. I will keep you up to date with how he gets on in his fights and hopefully we will see him fighting on some good undercard fights.
Tickets for Crossland’s first professional fight are priced at £35, balcony £40 and ringside £70 call 07718 649480 for tickets. This card is shaping up to be a great one and shouldn’t be missed.
Also, Crossland is looking for sponsorship: if anyone is interested call Danny Kelly 07985 470006 for more details.
Tam Darkes-Seddon can be contacted on:
twitter.com/TDSBoxingtalk
