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Ex-Premier League player Leon McKenzie ready for super-middleweight title fight

Leon McKenzie celebrates victory in his super-middleweight fight with John Mason
Image: Leon McKenzie ready for York Hall title showdown

Former Premier League footballer Leon McKenzie hopes his title fight on Saturday will be the stepping stone for other major honours.

The undefeated super-middleweight is preparing for the seventh fight of his professional career - an International Masters title bout with Croatian Ivan Stupalo at York Hall.

“It’s going to be the best fight of my life I can tell you that much and whatever happens I'll still feel like a winner,” McKenzie told Sky Sports.

“If I come out on top on March 14 I’m in the mandatory position for a Southern Area title, so I won’t stop there. I want to see how far I can go because once you get into the Southern Area, English title sort of level it’s a big deal.

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“That said I’m still a baby in boxing terms. I’m undefeated without any amateur experience and very little professional experience. I have jumped in the deep end and I am succeeding. That says a lot about me and says I can definitely fight.”

McKenzie made over 200 league appearances for clubs including Crystal Palace, Norwich and Coventry before hanging up his boots in 2013 and turning his hand to boxing.

The 36-year-old also shared a dressing room with Curtis Woodhouse at Peterborough but is keen to play down comparisons between himself and the former British light-welterweight champion.

'Tremendous'

“The whole footballer thing has been done now," he said. "Curtis Woodhouse has done that and done it at a tremendous level. Whether that will ever happen again I don’t know, but at the same time my story is different. It’s a totally different ball game.

"I think Curtis will tell you himself he would have found it very difficult to jump in the ring for the first time at 35 and produce."

McKenzie comes from a fighting family - his father and trainer Clinton was a British and European title holder and his uncle Duke is a former world champion.

"My dad works me so hard in the gym,” McKenzie added. “He works me to the point of exhaustion where I sometimes ask myself why I’m doing this, but boxing is in my blood. I’ve seen my dad and uncle come through and I’ve always been around the gym.

“There is a lot I have been through as an individual and a lot we have been through as a family. For me I’m not just getting into the ring, I’m getting into the ring and literally fighting for everything. That’s what makes it even more of a big deal because I am fighting for so much.

“But I was born this way, I was born to succeed and even when I have failed I have always come back strong and succeeded in the end and I am sure it will be the same this time round.

“But I must give so much credit to my dad who had been fantastic and I desperately want to win this belt, not just for me, but for him as well.”