Olympic bronze medalist Lewis Richardson, 28, is preparing to make his professional boxing debut this Saturday at the Ipswich stadium where he worked as a schoolboy, selling Pukka Pies to football fans.
More than ten years ago, the boxer, who won bronze at the 2024 Olympics, worked at Portman Road serving food to Ipswich Town fans (known as the `Tractor Boys`) to help fund his education, including his GCSEs and A-levels.
The Colchester-based southpaw will begin his professional career against Dmitri Protkunas, in what he describes as a dream debut, taking place just a short distance from his family home.
He shared: “Despite it being so close, this is probably the first time I have been in Ipswich for a year.
“I came for one night out here when I was younger but I quickly realised that I had to stay true to my roots back in Colchester.
“I did do some matchday shifts here, though, serving up the Pukka Pies.
“I did the same job at Colchester when I was around 16 and when Ipswich were short staffed a few times, we got the call to come over – and now I am boxing here, it’s crazy.
“I thought a London debut at York Hall or Wembley Arena was going to be a perfect start but Ipswich football stadium is unreal.
“All the friends and family who have talked about attending my first pro fight would have had to book trains or hotels.
“But we don’t even need to arrange minibuses for anyone, it’s a 29 minute drive from my front door, so everyone is happy sharing taxis for a great night.”
Richardson, who turned 28 on Wednesday, had to cancel his immediate birthday celebrations to meet the middleweight weight limit for the fight this weekend.
His birthday festivities are postponed, but the skilled southpaw is looking forward to compensating for his strict diet with a celebratory curry feast afterwards.
“The birthday is postponed for four days,” he revealed. “The party is pushed back to Sunday.
“I have a curry house booked in Colchester for 15 of us and my mouth is watering just talking to you about it now.
“I can’t even think about my order now.
“But I can say for sure that I will sound like Smithy with the number of bhunas and naans and rice types I am going to order.”
