Tommy Fletcher: 'Norfolk nightmare' may have to consider moving from home

Tommy Fletcher had his first professional fight in July last year

Cruiserweight prospect Tommy Fletcher may have to consider a move away from his Norfolk base as he continues to climb up the rankings.

Fletcher knocked out Poland's Pawel Strykowski in two rounds in his latest fight and now has a 5-0 record.

The 21-year-old told BBC Radio Norfolk that his journeys to and from sparring sessions in Essex were too tiring.

"I'm going back home, an hour and 40 minutes, and I'm done in before I get there," he said.

"It's something for me to look at, for sure, but I'm always part of Norfolk and I take them with me on this [boxing] journey and put them on the map."

Fletcher hailed Mark Tibbs as a "world-class trainer" following his win over Strykowski at York Hall in Bethnal Green.

"He's improved me massively as a fighter because I came to him as a 6 foot 7 skinny amateur. I was strong, I was stopping people, knocking them out, but now he's turning me into an animal, a machine, as a professional," he said.

"In the first round I was like a bull in a china shop. He said to me, 'Relax, get your jab off,' and I came out a different fighter in the second round and put him away."

And Tibbs described his performance as "much smoother" and "punch perfect".

"He's coming along nicely. He absolutely thrives under the lights. He's got good boxing IQ and he punches so hard for a 21 year old, wait till he's 25, 27," he said.

Fletcher - who hopes to be back in the ring by September - was delighted with the early finish after having to go the distance for the first time as a professional in his previous fight in January.

He added: "If you go and watch a play at a theatre and if it doesn't entertain you, you don't come back.

"It's the same in boxing. I'm on a stage with ropes round it. If I stand there looking at him and doing nothing, it's boring, no one wants to see that. People want to see entertainment.

"This is the hurt business. I'm here to hurt people and look good doing it."