FROM playing for an undefeated rugby team to winning gold at the Commonwealth Games to becoming a professional boxer with the potential of being Wales’ next big star. Inspired by the likes of Joe Calzaghe, Lauren Price and Joe Cordina, Crymych’s Ioan Croft, 4-0 (3 KOs), has made the perfect start to his professional career.
Ioan, along with his twin brother Garan Croft, 3-0 (2 KOs), have transitioned beautifully from a decorated amateur career, during which he travelled all across Europe, fighting 43 times in 14 different countries.
The now 23-year-old claimed a bronze medal at the 2022 European Championships in Yerevan, Armenia, before a few short months later securing gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
The twins then simultaneously kicked off their pro careers in 2024 under the tutelage of former world champion Anthony Crolla. “I’ve always kind of liked it in a coach that have been there and done it,” began Croft.
“It was the same with Colin Jones with the Welsh team, every time you walked out with him behind you, you know he’s been in your shoes, and it’s the same with Ant.
“He’s a world champion; he’s been there on the hardest of nights. He’s seen the highs and lows of professional boxing.
“You just know when you’ve got him behind you, it just adds that bit of confidence and reassurance.”
Croft made his debut in December 2024 and did so remarkably. Fighting out of the southpaw stance, he began his professional career with an emphatic first-round (2:55) victory over Poland’s Bartosz Glowacki at the SETU Arena, Waterford.
From there, he returned to Wales for a St David’s Day showdown, where he continued his winning streak with yet another first-round stoppage. Daniel Przewieslik was down three times within 90 seconds of the contest.
Then, after going the distance against the durable and stubborn Belarusian, Dzmitry Atrokhau in Swansea, he returned to action at The Galleries in Bristol two months later. That evening, he stopped Mexican fighter Fernando Valencia in the third round of a scheduled four-rounder, where he had his opponent down twice before the stoppage.
“I know as an amateur, I didn’t stop many people,” he continued.
“That was how you were schooled up with Team GB, to be very point picking. In and out with the feet, which just suited the amateur style. Which was never really our (his and Garan’s) kind of style, to be honest.
“I would have to try really hard to be doing that, believe it or not. A lot of my amateur fights, I weren’t winning the first round.
“It would be something that I would be really cautious of at the end of my amateur career, like how important that first round was. I would be a bit of a slow starter, just sussing people out. The next thing you know, you’re one round down and you’ve got to win the next two.
“We transformed pretty smoothly into it (being professionals), taking our time a bit more, sitting down on your shots.
“It wasn’t too hard for us, and that’s quite evident in our results at the minute. I’ve had four fights with three knockouts, and Garan has had three with two knockouts.
“It’s quite funny because we turned over from amateurs, and it might look like we don’t punch; it’s a completely different ballgame.”
The twins decided that turning pro was the correct way to move forward in their boxing careers. They left the Great Britain podium squad in February of 2024. This was five months out from the Paris Olympic Games, due to losing trust in GB Boxing.
“After the Commonwealth Games, I was a welterweight (67 kg), he (Garan) was light-middleweight (71 kg). There was a lot going around at the time, and then it was confirmed that the Olympic weight would be 63 to 71 kg, with 67 kg being taken out.
“Initially, I thought that’s not a problem, I’ll go up to 71 kilos, as long as one of us goes. Obviously, it was a bit heartbreaking because that was the dream that both of us would go to the Olympic Games together. It’s never been done much (twins competing at the Olympics).
“It then got to a point where the Olympic qualifiers got called in, and we didn’t agree with the choice. Especially after the second qualifier selection. To be honest, you could see it in our performances, really that we were a little unsettled, not too happy.
“Obviously, it was out of Team GB’s control, the fact that only one of us could go—nothing to do with them. As soon as I moved to Manchester, I started training with Ant. I realised that at some point, I had fallen out of love with the sport.
“I wake up in Manchester, excited to get to the gym in the morning, you know, your Monday mornings or whenever. Where at Sheffield (GB Boxings headquarters), I can’t remember the last time I woke up excited to go.
“I guess that’s how things ended up there. I didn’t even realise I felt that way about it. Moving here (Manchester) and fighting for yourself and as a team together, it’s just so much better.”
Croft continues his professional career, where he’ll aim to move to 5-0 when he fights on Pat Barrett’s Black Flash Promotion’s show at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Manchester, on October 4. That night will also see history being made as the WBC Asia title will be contested between Muhammad Ali and Inder Bassi.
When asked about aspirations, fighting for titles for himself, the 23-year-old added: “I would like to be near enough looking towards a British title maybe end of next year or the year after.
“End of 2026, start of 2027, that’s kind of what our (mine and Garan’s) target was. Whether a Welsh title fight falls before that, I don’t know.”
The West Walian revealed, as well, that in 2019, he had moved to Cardiff, which allowed them to train full-time with the Welsh team. From there, with the GB’s podium potential training on weekends, they would travel back and forth to Yorkshire. They never stayed in Sheffield (a 400-mile round trip), “We were up and back every week,” Ioan added. “Looking back, I don’t know how we did that for two to three years”.
Now fully relocated to Manchester, he and his brother train at Manchester’s FOX ABC. “We’ve got a brilliant team around us,” he said.
“It’s not just me and my brother, it’s the whole gym itself, the Crolla camp. We all root for each other. We help each other in the gym. If there’s someone who’s just lost, we’re all there for each other; we pick each other up.
“When someone’s in a big fight, we all get behind them. I remember Robbie Davies Jr fighting Sergey Lipinets out in Florida last year. About six of us went over to support him. That’s the type of gym we got, you can’t really beat it.”
