Cardiff’s Kyle King is coming back to boxing and he’s targeting title shots on his return.
King has had a 16 month break from boxing after falling out of love with the sport. In that time, the 23-year-old began training white collar fighters and there he rediscovered the reasons why he wanted to fight.
He said, “I went back to basics and that gave me the buzz back. I’d be walking to the ring with my boxers and want to fight for them. It was refreshing and as well as giving me the hunger again, I think teaching how to box improved my boxing brain.”
Due to the lack of depth in the super-flyweight division, boxers can secure domestic title shots relatively early in to their careers and that’s what King believes will benefit him.
He said, “It was only a few weeks ago that Najar Ali from the Rhondda got a call to fight for the Commonwealth title. He’s only had a few more fights than me and he’s in the mix, in a couple of fights time it could be me getting the opportunities.”
“There aren’t a lot of super-flyweights about, before my break I was ranked fifth in Britain and I think I can get back there and crack on to get a higher ranking too.”
King admits his three wins and two losses record is modest but he also thinks it isn’t a true reflection of his talent.
He said, “People see the result but there’s a lot that happens before that. I’ve never made an excuse but I’ve been putting things right and I won’t go in to fights the way I did before, I’m better than that and I’ll show it.”
For the last two months King has been training with 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medal winner Jamie Arthur at his new facility in Rhydyfelin and he’s looking forward to a long boxer-trainer relationship.
King said, “I’d heard that Jamie was now training and of course I knew of him, I’ve got a lot of respect for him. When I came down we clicked straight away and when you have an understanding with someone where they know how to get the best out of you then you can’t complain.”
“Jamie’s fresh and has loads of new ideas, I don’t think I’ve ever come here and done the same training session. When you’re kept thinking then you learn more and I think you’ll see that when I fight next.”
Arthur said, “It’s been a delight having Kyle in the gym. He’s energetic and enthusiastic, there’s not much more you can ask from a boxer, he does everything I ask of him and gives advice to the youngsters in the gym too.”
“As with all of my boxers, all we ask for is good notice so we don’t have to rush preparation and it’s safe. If we have that then I’m happy to let Kyle of the leash, he’ll shock a lot of people when he fights because they’ll all underestimate him but he has championship qualities.”
