I was brought up in an area called Phillipstown, New Tredegar in South Wales UK, or commonly known by the locals as, Monkey’s Island. There were few facilities and even fewer opportunities, however my upbringing was good with a strong family behind me and good set of values that kept me out of trouble, most of the time!

I have a strong competitive nature which was evident in my primary school days which continued onto secondary at Blackwood Comprehensive. Sport came first, especially football then cross country running. I also maintained my desire to do well academically, which I am happy I stuck with.

But being competitive brought its own problems and I found I needed to prove myself all the time, and so, I unwittingly started getting involved in fighting after school on street corners. Eventually realising that this was going to get me nowhere, I decided to "put my money where my mouth is" and after talking things through with my parents I decided to go and join the nearest boxing gym.

Although I still maintained my interest in football and cross country running, even becoming under 15 Welsh Champion, boxing took its hold, firstly in the amateur rankings, where I started at 39kg going onto 69kg.  I won 6 consecutive titles in a row in a 6 year period, and then went on to win bronze, silver and gold at 4 nation championships (competing against the best of England, Scotland and Republic of Ireland).

My amateur record consists of 36 fights, winning 32 of the 36, undefeated in my own country, and only loosing to an Italian, 2 English, and a Norwegian boxer.