Mark Dickinson readies to make his pro debut

Mark Dickinson

When and why you started boxing:
Around age six I started going to the gym. That was because my uncles [Jon Lewis and Travis Dickinson] both boxed and I followed them there. Really I just wanted to be like them.

Favourite all-time fighter:

Marvin Haglerโ€™s probably my favourite to watch but I think Floyd Mayweatherโ€™s the best of all time. Hagler gets stuck in.

Best fight youโ€™ve seen:
I like Gatti-Ward but Hagler-Hearns is a good one as well.

Personal career highlight:

Obviously getting on Team GB as an amateur was good and that. But Iโ€™m not really the type of person to look back on my achievements. I just want to keep moving forward. I just see that as something Iโ€™ve done now and Iโ€™ve got to move on from.

Toughest opponent:
I boxed an Armenian [Arman Darchinyan, who would become a Tokyo Olympian] in the World championships when I was 19 or 20. He was properly tough. He was just walking through my punches, which Iโ€™ve never really had before. Thatโ€™s man strength, which is just starting to come for me now.

Best and worst attributes as a boxer:
I think my best attribute is Iโ€™m not just a one-style kid. I can box, I can box going forward, inside, long range. My worst is probably my diet โ€“ Ben Davison is sorting that out for me.

Training tip:
Give 100 per cent at it or go home.

Favourite meal/restaurant:

I like a nice Indian.

Best friend in boxing:
Will Cawley. I met him on GB, we were in the same flat together on GB and then we turned pro together and came down here [in Essex].

Other sportsperson you would like to be:
Iโ€™d be a footballer because they get paid nicely.

Last film/series you saw:
Breaking Bad, thatโ€™s unreal.

Who would play you in a film of your life:
Thatโ€™s a hard one. Leonardo DiCaprio!

Have you ever been starstruck:
Not really. I kind of just look at everyone the same.

Last time you cried:
The last time I remember crying was when I got beat in the European Games.

Best advice received:
You can never learn too much.

Worst rumour about yourself:
None that I know of. But I suppose all press is good press, isnโ€™t it?

Something not many people know about you:
I donโ€™t live an exciting life. I just go to the gym. But Iโ€™ve kind of come under the radar. People who follow amateur boxing, theyโ€™ll know who I am. But the general boxing fan, I think theyโ€™re going to get a shock when I start coming up through the ranks.

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