Top amateur prospect Nantwich’s Nathan Gorman has signed a long-term promotional deal with Ricky Hatton’s Hatton promotions outfit and will make his pro debut in Walsall tonorrow evening [Dec 5].
The teenager won the youth ABA title in 2014 and was tipped for Olympic squad glory but the opportunity to be trained and promoted by one of his boxing idol’s Ricky Hatton was too good an opporunity to turn down.
Gorman comes from respected fighting stock as he is a direct descendent of Bartley Gorman, the bareknuckle boxer who was ‘King of the Travellers’ for more than two decades and served as an inspiration to actor Tom Hardy when he was preparing to play the supervillain Bane in the Hollywood blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises and with 2 current traveller world champions in Tyson Fuyry and Andy Lee, Gorman will be hoping to emulate them both.
“Boxing is a big part of my life,” Gorman said. “Ever since I was a little kid, I want to box and it’s a great honour to be given the chance to work with a legend like Ricky Hatton.
“Along with Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jnr, Ricky was my boxing idol and been given the opportunity to be trained by him is unreal.
“I did well in the amateurs so I could have tried to push on, but the chance to work with Ricky every day was too good to miss.
“I think the pros will suit me better anyway because I like to work on the inside and get my shots off and it’s hard to do that in the amateurs because referees get involved too much.
“I’m excited about making my debut. I’ll have a lot of people supporting me and I can’t wait to show people what I can do.”