Amateur duo sign with Hayemaker
Top amateurs Ryan Aston and Tommy Ghent were today preparing to turn pro after signing three-year contracts with Hayemaker Promotions.
Top amateurs Ryan Aston and Tommy Ghent were today preparing to turn pro after signing three-year contracts with Hayemaker Promotions.
The illustrious youngsters have sealed deals to join WBA world heavyweight champion David Haye's stable, subject to passing medicals and clearance from the British Boxing Board of Control.
Both come highly-rated from their success in the amateur ranks, boxing out of the Priory Park ABC in Dudley under head trainer Paul Gough, who will again lead them in the professional world.
Coseley's Ghent, an 18-year-old welterweight and younger brother of former International Masters champion Richard, is a two-time national champion having won the Golden Gloves and NACYP titles.
Dudley's Aston, a 20-year-old middleweight, was an international amateur star who had high hopes of going to next year's Olympic Games in London, but didn't make the cut.
His roll call includes four national titles, three gold and two silver medals boxing for England and three gold and one silver medal fighting for Team GB. Ghent has also represented his country.
The two will punch for pay for the first time in the summer, with Gough in the corner along with Haye's manager Adam Booth and renowned top-end pro trainer David Coldwell.
And Gough is hoping Hayemaker's influence can help his fighters get to where he believes they should be – British champions at the very least.
He said: "If they don't win a British title, I will think I haven't done my job right. They have both an opportunity here to succeed.
"As a trainer, this contract gives me freedom, I am not told what I have to do and I have a lot of say in their future.
"I want to guide them to titles, I didn't want us to be tied to something where we didn't have control and, with this, we have pretty much got control.
"I want to achieve things and I want to guide them to titles, but we haven't made any promises and neither have they.
"What they are doing is guiding their futures along and it's all little steps.
"It's a career they both want and, at this stage, it's all about getting them started."
Aston and Ghent will still spend the majority of their time training at Priory Park, while attending camps at the Hayemaker gym in central London.
Both will still need day jobs, as Hayemaker will pay them fees for fighting rather than a weekly wage, and that's where Priory Park backer James Dickens comes in.
Dickens, a partner in Edgbaston-based property renovation company Hackett & James, plays a pivotal role at Priory and has been instrumental in the club's planned £70,000 extension.
Now Dickens has come to Aston and Ghent's aid by giving them employment as labourers with his firm, in the understanding that their boxing commitments come first and work second.
Gough said: "James is someone that has come on board and has taken the club to heart and, with his backing, boxing will revolve around the work Tommy and Ryan do for him.
"The goal is to get Priory extended and, when our fighters want to turn over to the pro game, there will be things in place to see they are looked after."
By Craig Birch
