Rivals are fighting shy of top prospect Adam

KIRKHAM boxer Adam Little has only had four professional fights – and he reckons potential opponents have been scared off already.

Unbeaten Little makes his next appearance at Castle Leisure Centre, Bury, a week tomorrow, though finding someone to face him has been far from easy.

Little said: “It’s a bit of a shock that some people are unwilling to fight me already.

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People watching my last fight against Billy Smith will have got a bit of a shock and found out that I am not just a showy fighter – I have some power as well.

“Journeymen don’t want to get knocked out. They want to fight the next week, so any inclination that they could get knocked out and they don’t want to fight me.

“I will probably find out in the next day or two who I am fighting. They had someone, a southpaw, but I will fight southpaws next time.

“Every opponent I have had so far has had a different style. Next week it will be a come-forward fighter, then a southpaw.”

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And Little has a clear ambition how he wants his career to pan out, adding: “I will have an English title shot in the next 12 months.”

Little said he had improved 100 per cent under the direction of his trainer Ricky Hatton. “Everything has come on, not just in my moves but mentally as well.”

Hatton believes his protégé is ready to move up in class, despite being a professional for less than 12 months.

The Bury fight will be the final four-rounder for the 21-year-old, who has impressed Hatton since he began training Litttle last October.

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The two-weight world champion said: “Adam’s training for the Bury show has been exceptional and the longer we spend together in the gym understanding each other the better he will become.

“In the few months I have trained Adam, he has shown massive improvement and I feel ready to move him on to six-round class.”

In the top of the bill contest at Bury, Heywood’s Kieran Farrell challenges Yorkshireman Jon Baguley for the vacant Central Area light-welterweight title.

Little’s training has intensified and this week he was sparring with Matthew Hatton, who is himself in training for a big contest with Kell Brook in Sheffield next month.

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Little and Hatton made a special appearance at the Fulwood branch of Preston College this week to show students some of the training routines that go to make a professional fighter. They also visited Little’s old school, Kirkham Carr Hill.

It proved a worthwhile exercise as the students got a fascinating glimpse into how a fighter prepares.

Little, who is studying sports development at Preston, said: “It’s great to come to the college to show people exactly what I do.

“It’s all right telling people at the college that I do this and that, but in this way I can show them and it opens their eyes.”

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Hatton, a self-confessed ‘scallywag’ who neglected his studies as a youngster, stressed the importance of having academic achievement to fall back on. He regrets not making more effort at school, though he succeeded in his lone ambition to be a world champion.

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