Welterweight Bailey Donald shows how hard work is paying off as he extends perfect professional record

The Wickham welterweight extended his perfect professional record to 3-0 with a unanimous decision victory against Naeem Ali over four rounds on Saturday.

Just as with a number of pro fighters across the country, Donald, 20, had been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Team Wiseman gym member was back in the ring for the first time in nearly two years against Ali, with his previous bout coming way back in December 2019.

But Donald's trainer, Daron Wiseman, reckons all the hard work put in training behind closed doors during the pandemic paid off in his third pro bout.

Trainer Wiseman said: ‘Saturday was absolutely amazing. We had something to eat in the daytime, got to the show, then did the business. He (Bailey) was full of confidence from the minute we walked in there until the end. He boxed absolutely spot on to the game plan.

‘We watched a few videos of Naeem Ali, who he boxed, and we just literally had it off to a tee.

‘The pandemic obviously put a lot of the fight side of things off but we carried on training, we trained right through it, we trained behind closed doors in the gym, me, Bailey, and his dad (Adrian).

‘We just worked on things and we just spent the whole pandemic improving and it really showed on Saturday.

‘We knew he was going to come out a whole different fighter this time and he came out exactly as we thought he would do.’

Donald never looked fazed against Ali and comfortably claimed his unanimous decision victory.

The young welterweight is one of four professionals training out of the Team Wiseman gym currently.

Returning Leigh Park light heavyweight, Joel McIntyre, is preparing for his ring return next month while heavyweight Mark Ellins is part of the pro stable and Daron's son, Liam Wiseman, is currently waiting for a date for his debut bout.

Team Wiseman also have four juniors fighting in the amateur national championships in Newcastle this weekend.

Head coach Daron Wiseman and his team are certainly kept busy, but he wouldn't want it any other way.

He added: ‘The amateurs are absolutely flying at the moment, we’ve got four boys in the national finals this weekend.

‘The gym is just opening out in the professional world, we’ve got Bailey, Joel McIntyre is back in the gym, we’ve got big Mark Ellins, who is a heavyweight, and we’ve got Liam Wiseman. The gym is just opening up into the professional world.’