The Likely Lads – Ashley Sexton & Tommy Jacobs

Ashley Sexton

ASHLEY SEXTON and Tommy Jacobs are the best of friends until the conversation turns to the time they fought each other. Jacobs got the decisionโ€ฆ and Sexton disputes it.

โ€œI definitely thought it could have gone my way,โ€ said Sexton. Jacobsโ€™ version of events is: โ€œAsh says it was close โ€“ but he knows he lost. He knows I beat him fair and square.โ€

That was when they were 11-year-olds โ€“ and much has happened since then. The boxing crazy boys who fought each other at a caravan park in Dover are now 33-year-old veterans of boxing โ€“ and life. Lessons learned, both believe the best days of their careers are in front of them and are matched on manager Mo Priorโ€™s show at the York Hall in Bethnal Green on Saturday night (July 31). Sexton hopes victory over Venezuelan puncher Antonio Guzman (21-2) in their eight-rounder will lead to a shot at super-flyweight honours, while Jacobs takes on Theophilius Tetteh (19-8-2) at 168lbs.

โ€œI grew up with Tommy,โ€ said Sexton, โ€œand we formed a bond. We had that fight and then won the Schoolboys together. Tommy captained the team that went to the European [Schools] Championship [in Rome in 2003] and included Amir Khan, Luke Campbell and Joe Murray.

โ€œWe were away from home at a young age and the people like Tommy and Joe became my second family. Tommy is like a brother to me and I still keep in touch with Joe and Bradley Skeete.

โ€œWe still meet up for a Nandoโ€™s.โ€

Murray went to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and retired without winning a major pro title, while Skeete returned earlier this year, looking to add 154lbs belts to the British and Commonwealth welterweight titles he previously held.

As a pro, Sexton was known as โ€œFlash Ashโ€, a chirpy and confident character who showed his mettle to grind out a blood-splattered draw with Shinny Bayaar in a challenge for the British flyweight title in May, 2010. He also pushed Paul Butler hard over 10 rounds at a sweltering York Hall (after weighing in over the 8st 3lbs limit) and is known beyond hardcore fans for a knockout that Boxing News placed at No. 31 in the sportโ€™s best one-punch finishes.

YouTube views of Usman Ahmed doing his best P Diddy impression on his way to the ring to fight Sexton for the vacant English title and then being ironed out in the first by a right-hand thunderbolt top three million. โ€œThey were great times and I got sucked into the party lifestyle,โ€ admitted Sexton. โ€œI was going to clothes shops and not having to pay for anything and when I walked into nightclubs the DJ would say my name and people would want to talk to me.

โ€œI believed the hype. I forgot about the boxing and it was a comedown when I lost. Iโ€™m more grounded now. I donโ€™t think Iโ€™m a rock star anymore.โ€

He suffered an eight-round loss to Stephane Jamoye in a challenge for the European bantamweight title in March 2013 and has scarcely boxed since.

โ€œI was winning on points and then he cut me in half with a body shot,โ€ is how Sexton remembers the most recent loss on his 17-2-2 record. โ€œI never officially retired. I just needed to get my life in order. I realised there is life after boxing and I needed a career away from the sport. โ€œAfter boxing there will always be my family [Sexton has five children] and I had to get everything right for them. The firm I work for, Kelly Rail, supports me and gives me time off when I need it. I work nights so get to the gym in the morning.

โ€œThere was a time when I didnโ€™t think I could compete with the youngsters in the gym anymore, but I can still do what I did before and this time, Iโ€™m wiser and happy. I havenโ€™t taken any punishment, there havenโ€™t been hard spars or hard fights for five years. My body is still 26 years old. I havenโ€™t damaged my body.โ€

Sexton trains at the Hodbox Pro gym under Sab Leo and Julian Leivars and it was there that he prepared for his first fight for more than five years, a points win over Jose Aguilar (16-78-5) in Spain last month.

โ€œThatโ€™s the first time Iโ€™ve ever picked up my opponent from the airport, driven him to the hotel and then driven him to and from the fight!โ€ said Sexton, who also trains juniors at the gym, including his 10-year-old son, Tiger. โ€œHe didnโ€™t have any wheels. It was surreal. On the day of the fight he was texting me asking for more money and getting me to sort things out. Now I know what promoters go through and itโ€™s not a lot of fun!โ€

Sexton had Jacobs there supporting him.

โ€œThe moment I told Tommy I was boxing, he said: โ€˜Iโ€™m thereโ€™,โ€ remembered Sexton, who was twice outpointed by Carl Frampton as an amateur. โ€œI told him: โ€˜I donโ€™t think youโ€™re allowed to come,โ€™ but he was there.โ€

Google โ€˜Tommy Jacobsโ€™ and he isnโ€™t proud of what you find. He spent six years in prison for an attack that left his victim with a fractured skull. โ€œI made one mistake when I was young and was harshly treated,โ€ said Jacobs. โ€œBut I made the best of a bad situation. Boxing again was my target so I was in the gym every day I was in prison and I got loads of qualifications.

โ€œI became a Level One and Two FA [Football Association] coach, got my PT [Personal Training] badges and a Business Diploma.โ€

Boxing is a sport that gives second chances โ€“ and Jacobs had to wait for his. โ€œAs soon as I came out [in 2015], my thinking was: โ€˜I was a top amateur, so Iโ€™m going to get signed by Eddie Hearn or Frank Warren and earn tons of money,โ€™โ€ said the father of two. โ€œIt was a lot harder than that. I couldnโ€™t even get in front of the Board. They just turned me down.

โ€œI boxed on other shows [the Malta Boxing Commission and British and Irish Boxing Authority], but to box on Board shows was always the goal. People said: โ€˜Why donโ€™t you go abroad?โ€™ but I was still on probation. If I was caught spitting on the street they would have sent me straight back to prison. I got turned down again a couple of years ago and I thought: โ€˜I either give up or I wait.โ€™ I waited for my [12-year] sentence to expire.
โ€œAll that mattered was getting my licence. Boxing is all I know. I cried when I got the email saying I finally got my licence. Apart from the birth of my children that is the only time I have cried in my whole life. Boxing is me. This defines me.โ€

Boxing is Jacobsโ€™ life again.

Boxing News rang him last week when he was on his way from a sparring session at the Peacock Gym to train amateurs at Willieโ€™s Gym in home-town Colchester, named after featherweight great Willie Pep. โ€œI also go into schools and talk to naughty kids who are about to get kicked out of school,โ€ he said. โ€œI use myself as an example of what not to do. It comes better from me than it does from a teacher or policeman. They can relate to me. Iโ€™m nearer their age and I say to them: โ€˜I know what will happen to you, you little s***s. I know itโ€™s not going to end well.โ€™

โ€œThe teachers look shocked that I talk to them like that, but I talk to them in a way they understand and it gets results. I get schools ringing me all the time saying: โ€˜We need the Tommy treatment.โ€™

โ€œI underachieved as an amateur partly because I had awful parents. What I needed when I was 17 or 18 was someone to shake me and say: โ€˜Youโ€™re going to ruin your life. You have something here, so donโ€™t muck it up.โ€™ I can be the person who shakes these teenagers and says: โ€˜Look at me, donโ€™t make the same mistakes I made.โ€™โ€

What Jacobs threw away was a bright future in boxing. Between the ages of 11 and 17, he won a clutch of national titles boxing for Harwich ABC and captained his country. โ€œIf I go to amateur shows around Essex and the South East the officials all remember me,โ€ he said. โ€œThey all come over and talk to me. I was one of the most successful amateurs in the area for a while.

โ€œI captained England when Billy Joe Saunders was in the team and I was his main sparring partner for the Willie Monroe fight [in September, 2017] when I hadnโ€™t even had a fight with the Board. [The late] Brendan Ingle watched me spar Billy Joe and said I reminded him of Archie Moore. He said I could still have a long career.

โ€œIโ€™m 33 years old, but physically, Iโ€™m younger. Iโ€™m hoping Iโ€™ve got a good few years left in boxing. I believe I have five years minimum. Thereโ€™s a chance I might find my level before then or my body might start giving up on me. But I know what level I can get to and I want to get there as quickly as possible.

โ€œIโ€™ve told Mo [Prior]: โ€˜I donโ€™t have time to mess around. I donโ€™t need to learn my trade against journeymen. I donโ€™t need to be fighting Latvian road sweepers.โ€™ Iโ€™m looking to have three fights in three months and I want to be fighting for titles by the end of the year.

โ€œIโ€™ve had hundreds of jobs, tried hundreds of different things. Iโ€™ve been a postman, a bricklayer, you name it, Iโ€™ve tried it. They werenโ€™t me. Iโ€™m a boxer. This is all I can do.โ€

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