Pro Boxer Joshua Burke
Joshua Burke is a 30 year old professional Cruiserweight boxer from Wolverhampton. Nicknamed “The Rage” the orthodox fighter stands at an Impressive 6 foot 2 and had 18 amateur fights winning 6 of them.
As a Pro Joshua has had 3 fights an won 2, the Rage informed me “I initially boxed out of Wolverhampton amateur boxing club, I started training for fitness then wanted to spar and fight and the coaches took notice of my potential. My coaches were Mick Smith and Marcus Ashman, I had two amateur fights then started training in Wednesbury Pro gym to improve my fitness and trained there since. I done this with the intention of turning pro with trainer Paul Mann and manager Errol Johnson who opened a amateur gym in Darlaston where I got more fighting experience before I turned pro. I got plenty of sparring with numerous pros helping them get ready for fights which didn't help my amateur career because I developed more of a pro style. I feel this worked against me as I was conditioned to fighting more over a distance which didn't suit the amateur 3 round system as I often didn't get going till the 2nd or 3rd round which meant I was constantly chasing the fights, I'm still training out of Wednesbury with Paul and Errol”.
When I asked Josh who his favorite boxer was he told me “my favorite boxer is Mike Tyson
for his explosiveness and Muhammad Ali for his achievements in and out of the ring, but also boxers like sugar Ray Robinson, James Toney, Roy Jones, Floyd Mayweather and Evandor Holyfield”.
Burke informed me the best fight he has seen is Muhammed Ali vs Frazier 3 Josh said “no one was going to quit and it was over the 15 round distance which fighters these days don't know what it was like to push yourself through too that limit.
Josh continued about when he started boxing and what inspired him to take up the noble art. He told me “I started boxing in 2009 but didn't have my first contest till 2011, I was inspired to take up boxing for fitness initially, but then the more I got into it the more wanted to prove that I can take this far and push on for major honors”.
The Cruiser-weight continued “I am willing to face anyone with the confidence I have I will come out on top because I believe they won't have the heart to match me and that’s what you need in pro boxing which is something that can't be taught”.
I asked Josh what had been his hardest fight to date. He informed me “my hardest fight, it's hard to choose one because my amateur career was up and down and I didn't treat the sport as serious as I needed to. I treat all my opponents as part of the journey to get me where I am now so I thank them all for helping me to progress but if I had to choose one I'd say Courtney Richards for pro fight number two. That was a 6 round fight that I felt I won and taking the challenge in my 2nd pro fight and going to take him on in his back yard proved I'm willing to take on challenges out of my comfort zone”.
Josh added at the end of the interview “I've went to Las Vegas in 2015 and met Floyd Mayweather and got the chance to spar in front of him and watch him train before his last pro fight against Andre Berto. I plan to go back in 2017, I'm looking at a Midlands title shot, also next year I’m looking to fast track my progress to get to the top as quickly as possible and willing to take on all challengers”.
Josh is fighting on the 19th of November at the Walsall town hall on the Black Country boxing show ‘Going for Gold”, the Birmingham boxing column will be there to review the show.
Dexter Thoughts
I’m looking forward to seeing Josh at the Going for Gold show, he will be having his forth fight and comes across as a very confident young man. He is looking to impress in this fight and hopefully it might take him to contested for the vacant area Midlands Cruiserweight title. Going for Gold is set to be a great night of boxing and Josh is up for putting on a show the bbcolumn will be there to report on all the boxers proformances.