Soccer
  • Home
  • Boxing
  • Exclusive: Mali Wright Dreaming Of Making Leeds' First Direct Arena His New Home

Exclusive: Mali Wright dreaming of making Leeds' First Direct Arena his new home

Mali Wright spoke to Planet Sport about his start to the professional ranks, becoming a regular on Josh Warrington's undercards and possibly signing with Eddie Hearn.

Mali Wright is enjoying the start of his professional career.
His professional debut saw him fighting on the undercard of Josh Warrington's rematch against Mauricio Lara.

Opening the bill at Headingley Stadium in September, Wright made light work of his opponent, winning inside two rounds under trainer Nick Manners.

Wright returned to the ring in February and is now preparing to fight on Warrington's latest fight card later this month.

The 28-year-old - who grew up in Chapel Town, Leeds, moved to Jamaica at the age of 10 and lived out there with his family for five years before moving back to England.
Wright has since gone on to study at university in Northampton although he decided to transfer to Leeds Beckett University to avoid the 'party lifestyle'.
"Matrix" learnt his craft in Tigers Gym, Leeds - the same gym Josh Warrington trained at during his time as an amateur fighter - and Wright revealed how he first crossed paths with the "Leeds Warrior".

Warrington will headline the First Direct Arena in Leeds looking to become a two-time world champion when he takes on former opponent Kiko Martinez on March 26.

"I first met Josh in about 2013 and then I used to go to his shows and then eventually I used to backstage with him at the First Direct Arena and it's now gone the (full) 360," Wright said.

"The first time I met Eddie Hearn was during one of the public workouts and then he let me do a public workout even though I wasn't fighting - I was still an amateur back then.

"I bump into him quite a bit and it's just nice because I remember when I won my first national title it was in about 2014 and beforehand Josh came to the gym and went for a few laps around the block and we were just having a talk, walking and he was just good to me.
"It's nice to know that someone at a high level has been through the same situations you have because we both boxed at the same amateur club - Tigers Gym. He's set a path I can mimic and follow and hopefully turn into my own path when he's won his world title back and gone to America then Leeds Direct Arena may become my home," Wright added.

Wright's personality came across during his first press conference in front of the cameras last year with him even asking promoter Eddie Hearn if he could take a piece of paper that had his name on in front of him as a memento.

Wright admits he has since had a couple of conversations with the Matchroom Boxing promoter and if he can produce a couple of strong performances then he could be featuring on DAZN more regularly.
"There have been talks that if I put two good performances in then I might even get in with Matchroom and sign with them - that would be good because I feel like I might not be able to fight on these small hall shows the way it's working out," he added.

Read more: Can Gervonta Davis reach superstardom without taking on elite fighters?

    More Articles