FIVE MINUTES WITH... Junior Witter

SCHOOLED by the late, great Brendan Ingle, Junior Witter became a British, Commonwealth, European and World boxing champion in a professional career that spanned nearly 20 years. These days he is passing on his skills and knowledge to fighters at Witters Boxing Club at Eastwood.

FIRST SPORTING MEMORY

Coming second in the sprint at school. It was one of those where you get pipped on the line. I was furious!

BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON YOUR CAREER

Brendan Ingle. I went to Brendan with a style that was very similar to what he did and we moulded that into my style. His philosophies in boxing and in life are things to live by.

BOXING HIGHLIGHT

Defending my WBC World Title at the Doncaster Dome against Vivian Harris back in 2007.

BOXING LOWLIGHT

That's a weird one because when I lost my world title, I wasn't bothered because of what else was happening in my life at that particular time. Boxing wasn't as important as it had been throughout my whole life. Aside from that, it would be the loss to the American, Devon Alexander.

FAVOURITE OTHER SPORT

I'm into F1. Watching the Netflix series, Drive to Survive, during lockdown got me into that. I have always loved snooker, people like Jimmy White etc

WHICH BOXER DO YOU MOST ADMIRE

Roy Jones junior. I think he is probably the best boxer there has ever been. There are a couple of things have gone off in his life, I agree, but when it comes to ability, power, defence, the ability to hit with either hand, he was brilliant.

GUILTY PLEASURE

Chocolate — but not dark chocolate. Milk chocolate, white chocolate, hot chocolate, anything but dark chocolate.

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF WE DON’T KNOW

I'm in the process of writing a book, which should out for Easter. In that I'll be going into quite a lot of things people don't know about me.

VIEWING CHOICE

Naked and Afraid. It's on Discovery Plus. It's about people who are naked left in dangerous places and they have to find their own food and forage and survive and get on with each other. The programme makers have filtered things out, which makes watching more palatable, and the way these people intermingle with each other, with some taking the credit for work they haven't done, is fascinating. It's a study in human nature and it's about survival.

MUSIC CHOICE

I've always liked my rap, soul and R 'n’ B. My era is 90s and noughties. I love my reggae. My family have always been into reggae and my brothers are reggae DJs. My favourite acts overall include En Vogue and DMX.

UNFULFILLED AMBITION

I don't know if I have one because my ambitions were all based around boxing. I won my British belt outright and the Commonwealth and European and got the WBC World Title. I cleaned up in that respect. I'm happy with what I've achieved in my life. Yes, we'd all like to be richer but I'm happy with my home life and my woman and what I achieved as a boxer. My next goals and aspirations are to take one of my fighters on to win a world title.

Witters Boxing Club, Chesterton Road, Eastwood. Email [email protected]