Twenty-two-year-old Ryan Woolridge started his professional boxing career in September of 2021 beating Kearon Thomas on points at the stadium suite Walsall. The Southpaw super welterweight fighter from Bloxwich Walsall has an impressive record of six wins and no defeats and has had three-four three-minute round contests and three six-rounders. As an amateur Woolridge had twelve contests and won eight of them winning a box cup and being a runner-up the year after. Ryan has also boxed in two Championships in Midlands finals but in his words “never did any good in those”.
Woolridge who stands at six foot one has been given the nickname ‘The Rhino’, Ryan told me “I got given the name Rhino, which was already taken by Ryan Whitehead. So I feel bad for that. It just happened. I’ve not really ever picked one to be honest”.
Woolridge boxes out of Great Wyrley with Peter Hickinbottom who has trained him since he was an amateur, Woolridge said about his trainer “I’ll stay with him until I finish boxing”. Ryan the mentioned his promoter Errol Johnson saying “I’m promoted and managed by Errol Johnson at BcB promotions who do a great job getting me good fights and looking after anything, I need help with”.
Woolridge who has been boxing for ten years told me what inspired him to take up the noble art. He said “I got into boxing by accident, I’ve always loved the idea of boxing my cousins and family are into fighting, and everyone follows it, but I never had the confidence to do it. I did it a couple of times as a kid but nothing followed, then one day my mate was on to me to go with him whilst we were down the park. I was like “no that’s not for me” I carried a lot of weight as I became a teenager so I got picked on as you do for being different. It happens, so I was sitting at around 15/16 stone at this point. Then one day my mate asked me again and something told me to try it I don’t know what it was, but a few of my other mates were there also telling me to go and try it. I’ve got them to thank, without them I think boxing would never have found me”.
My first question to the unbeaten fight was who is your favourite fighter and why? He told me “It would have to be Joe Calzaghe and Manny Pacquiao, 2 southpaws I look up to massively. I love their speed, power, and the fights they’ve been in. They have both done it all and are great people outside the ring, I couldn’t think of anyone else to look up to with an attitude like Manny Pacquiao outside the ring and Joe Calzaghe both just humble geezers who lived the life”.
We then talked about the best fight he had ever seen, he told me, “One of the best fights I’ve seen would have to be, Calzaghe vs Hopkins, with Calzaghe showing that being put down in the 1st, didn’t mean nothing, that was what made it stick out. I remember watching it with my dad when I was a nipper, it was on in Vegas so we went to sleep early getting up to watch it later on in the night”.
My final question to the talented fight was what has been his hardest fight? Woolridge informed me “My hardest fight, it's got to be the one I had the other night. Just for the pure work rate I set from the off and going through the gears that was something I told myself before I went into it. We knew with an even record this kid would be good, and he came to win. It was a proper fight, I got cut, we got bruised it was indulgent for the fans”.
Ryan finished by saying “Big thanks to all my sponsors, fans and the team around me. Dan and Mike, me and Pete we have a bond that’s like no other and I think that will be our advantage going into any fight. I’m by no means the best in the world, but my opponents will know they’ve been in a fight with me”.
Dexter’s Thoughts
Woolridge seems to have a great bond with his trainer Pete which like he said will be an advantage for him going forward in his career. I had the privilege of watching his last fight and what a cracker it was. His opponent was a tough Bulgarian and had a record of two wins and two defeats and definitely came to win. The fight was very competitive with Woolridge getting cut in the first round which didn’t seem to bother the Bloxwich Boxer. There were some close rounds where I couldn’t split them but Woolridge came out as the clear winner this was a great test for his sixth contest and I’m sure he would have learned more in that fight than in his other contest.
Woodridge is without doubt a talented boxer who when the chips are down will dig deep and rise to the occasion. He is six without defeat and I can see this run go on and him start to look at challenging for a Midlands area title in the near future. I look forward to seeing Woolridge fight again very soon.