Amos' rise from white-collar fighter to title challenger

Ryan Amos has not always known where his boxing career was going, but he still blindly set a course for success.

The Nottingham fighter started out in taekwondo and only moved into the boxing ring as a teenager after catching a glimpse of four-time world champion Carl Froch sparring.

But the unconventional path Amos began more than a decade ago has led to a WBO European and Commonwealth welterweight title fight against Constantin Ursu at York Hall in London on Sunday.

There was a lengthy detour as he picked up fights as a white-collar boxer, scrapping on the unsanctioned scene before spending years building his reputation as 'The Punisher' – winning 16 of his 20 fights on the way to this title shot at the age of 35.

"The roadmap hasn't been clear for me," he told BBC East Midlands Today.

"It's been a guessing game. Nothing has been straight, where a big promoter has come in and said, 'we are going to sign you and make you a world champion in five or six years'.

"I've had it the hardest way possible."

Amos readily admits he got a "late start" as a boxer, coming to the sport as an 18-year-old.

What he lacked in ring craft as a teenager, he made up for in fighting nous honed over years of dedication to taekwondo and training he did with his father from the age of six.

And when Amos did get his start in boxing, he plunged himself into the unknown of unsanctioned boxing – bouts that are not governed by any professional licensing body.

"It was a rough and ready, but also a growing experience. I got loads of fights, " Amos added.

"Once I jumped in, I was fighting people who had loads of experience. It was like jumping in a pool of sharks, there were so many people with different experience and you were not getting matched up with people that were similar.

"But it was a very good experience. I know people try shine a light on it and say negative things about it, but it was a good circuit to be on."

Amos says the "resilience, work ethic and discipline" he gained from taekwondo were crucial in those early years as a boxer.

And while it was a time in his sporting life when title shots and boxing belts were beyond reach, Amos was building himself up to challenge for a crown someday for a very personal reason.

It was all about a promise he made to his sister Tania, who has cerebral palsy - a physical disability that affects movement and co-ordination and can impact different parts of the body.

"My sister, she is everything to me," Amos said. "We have come together as a family to understand and look after her.

"I promised my sister that I would be a champion someday a s professional, and I did when I won the Midlands title and now I think she is my guardian angel in terms of life itself.

"It means everything for the family as a collective to even get to this point.

"People talk of the magnitude of this fight, but I don't see it. I'm just going to go in, have my fight, show the best account of myself then just come back home and sit down with my sister because she will be waiting for me."