Tony Jeffries is already dreaming of fighting in front of his home crowd in Sunderland as he gets ready for his pro debut in Barnsley.
Beijing bronze medallist had trouble with three-minute rounds
Tony Jeffries is already dreaming of fighting in front of his home crowd in Sunderland as he gets ready for his professional debut.
The Olympic bronze medallist will be in action in front of the
Sky Sports cameras on Friday night in Barnsley.
Belarussian Aliaksandr Vayavoda will be his opponent but the 23-year-old is already looking ahead to the chance of appearing in front of his own fans.
Jeffries, who previously had a job flipping burgers outside the Stadium of Light on match days, admits he is desperate to reward his loyal supporters with a win in front of them.
Proud
"I'm really proud of being from Sunderland," he told
Sky Sports News.
"So when I can finally fight there, and everyone can come and watch me box, it will be good to give something back, show everyone how much I appreciate them.
"I'll just want to go around to everyone's hand and say 'thanks for your support'."
Having fought at light-heavy as an amateur, Jeffries has slimmed down to make his bow as a super-middleweight on the undercard to Rendall Munroe's defending his European super-bantamweight crown against Kiko Martinez.
However, rather than the weight being a major issue the Beijing hero has instead had trouble getting used to fighting three-minute rounds.
"When I was first in the gym I was on the bags and after two minutes 15 seconds I was looking at the clock and wondering 'when is this round going to end, it's lasting forever'," he added.
Special night
Father and manager Phil Jeffries admits it would be a special night if his son was to get the chance to fight for a title in his own back yard.
"I'm looking for a new chapter in his life, I've followed him all over the world," he said.
"We're just going to take it one fight at a time and hopefully someday he'll get a title fight in Sunderland.
"That's my dream, just to get back to Sunderland and win something, because our football team never wins anything."
After Jeffries' debut on Friday night, Olympic gold medal winner James DeGale, and fellow amateur stars Frankie Gavin and Billy Joe Saunders, will make their first professional appearances on Saturday in Birmingham, also
live on Sky Sports.
