Portsmouth fighter who picked himself up to achieve professional boxing goal aged 37 after gaining motivation from world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury's awe-inspiring autobiography

Former Moneyfields ABC member Leigh enjoyed quite the moment on South Parade Pier in front of his home following, defeating Russian Rustem Fatkhullin over a four-round welterweight contest last weekend.

It was a pro debut triumph a long-time in the making for the now Bosham-based boxer, having first taken up the sport alongside twin brother Joshua when the pair were just 12.

Ashley and Joshua were promising amateurs and progressing through the ranks under the guidance of coach Teddy Harris, first at the City of Portsmouth Boxing Club and then Moneyfields ABC.

Yet it was in 2009, after Joshua was diagnosed with a serious condition, when Ashley drifted away from boxing.

He did take up the sport again a few years later, but only briefly, before becoming a keen runner with Team Purser at City of Portsmouth Athletics Club.

But after some mental health struggles of his own following Joshua's diagnosis, Ashley began reading world heavyweight champion Fury's autobiography of how he overcame depression and drug abuse to get back to the sport which had made him a global star.

And upon finishing the book, there was nothing stopping Ashley from achieving his goal of having at least one professional bout.

He said: ‘It was 2007, I was doing really well, really on fire, I was aiming for the ABAs and the World Championships.

‘In 2009, I found out my brother had a condition, then we kind of left it (boxing) - we’d always fought together, we were always competing with each other.

‘I was suffering with a bit of anxiety because of what was going on back then. A couple of years after that … you get married, you do other things … I was seeing Fury all the time on the TV. I read his book and my eyes just opened up a little bit.

‘Where I’d been doing quite well with my running, I thought to myself, ‘come on.’ There were a lot of people who doubted me because of my age but I’ve done it (making pro debut).

‘I’ve been out (of boxing) a long time, I was just happy to get the win. I was excited as well because I’ve been training right, I felt fit and focused.

‘I’ve never trained so hard, I’ve had to at my age coming back; this is a serious sport and if you mess about you get hurt.’

There was definitely no doubting Ashley's potential given he'd made it to the junior ABA semi-finals and had competed in senior national standard competition.

His fitness was there too, given his association to the Team Purser running contingent he remains part of.

So, it was time to turn his ambition of becoming a pro boxer into reality, with a little help from Guildford City BC head coach John Edwards.

‘I’m pretty good with the running. I’m out of a pretty good team at the Mountbatten Centre. They’ve got a real good and real focused team (Team Purser), they train some good level runners.

‘It was December 2020 and I thought I’d go down there (Guildford City BC), I spoke to John, we had a good chat.

‘I’ve kept trying to train but I ripped a tendon where I was running all the time. There were just little niggly things getting in the way, but I said to myself I was going to have a fight and I’ve done it.’

So with one pro victory to his name, could there be more to come?

Ashley continued: ‘I might have another, but I’m just happy I’ve had one. As someone said to me the other day, ‘one is better than none.’ If I’m going to have another one (fight) it’ll be soon. I’ll carry on training and see how we go.’