Alfie Middlemiss, a young featherweight from Manchester, is a professional actor in a sport full of wannabe actors; a sport one is reminded at every turn one cannot “play.”

That many choose to act, or be someone other than themselves, says as much about certain shifts in society as boxing’s dangers, but the fact remains: plenty these days are playing a part. 

Middlemiss, who had an agent at “six or seven” and was in “Emmerdale” at 10, was seemingly on his way to following in his father’s footsteps before boxing grabbed hold of him. His father, you see, just so happens to be Phil Middlemiss, best known for playing Des Barnes in “Coronation Street,” Britain’s longest-running soap opera, in the nineties. “Corrie,” like “Emmerdale,” is still one of the UK’s most popular soaps and at its peak was being watched in 15 million households. In other words, Alfie Middlemiss, though only 2-0 as a pro boxer, knows what it means to be watched and recognised. It is something he has seen his father experience and it is something he too has experienced, albeit not on the same scale. 

“I think you can take little bits from it,” he said of the acting. “The pressure of being under the lights and in front of the camera is something they have in common. A lot of boxers struggle with that, the pressure of talking. But I’ve found I’m quite comfortable and am used to it by now. I’m used to having eyes on me and talking. So, you can take that as a positive from the acting. But the difference, of course, is that you are taking punches to the head in boxing. That’s the name of the game.”

Interestingly, and perhaps cruelly, the name of the game could in time directly impact Alfie Middlemiss’ acting work. After all, aside from punches causing memory loss and therefore affecting his ability to recall lines, there is also the small matter of the aesthetic; the black eye, the broken nose. Every time he boxes, in fact, Middlemiss runs the risk of messing up what for so many actors is their stock-in-trade and the thing that gets them parts. 

“If I don’t take too many punches to the face, I think I’ll still have a career in acting,” he said. “I still do a little bit of acting; I’ve just been on ‘Waterloo Road’ playing a little role. 

“The two go hand in hand for me, but obviously the boxing is the priority. If any small roles come up while I’m boxing, I’ll jump on it. But, after boxing, acting will be something I’ll do.

“It’s definitely hard,” he said, speaking now of balancing the two. “Sometimes you’ll have to turn down roles because a fight is coming up or because you’re just prioritizing the boxing. But it’s always good to have something like that for your profile. It’s a business at the end of the day and if I can build my profile in another way, by being on TV, it adds another element. Whatever helps sell tickets.”

Although Middlemiss, now 21, was acting from as young as seven, he wouldn’t find his way to a boxing gym until the age of 13. Within a month he was then sparring. Within a month he was in love. Within a month knew this was the thing he wanted to be doing. 

Wanted, not needed. 

“I wasn’t forced into boxing and I didn’t need to do boxing,” he stressed. “It came out of nowhere really. I’d always been a competitive kid, whatever sport I did, but I just sort of fell in love with the training at the start. I knew from early that I wanted to be a professional boxer. I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life.

“When you first walk into the boxing gym and you see massive men and people with tattoos, it can be quite overwhelming. I had never been in a boxing gym at all before and I was just this young, small kid. I thought, Wow, this is a little bit intimidating. The smell when you first walk in – the sweat – you never forget it.

“The thing is, with the boxing, they make you feel part of it. It’s like a proper community when you walk into the gym. Everyone is helping each other and everyone has the same goal: to improve.”

His approach to boxing now is that of a method actor; meaning he has lost himself in the role and become fully immersed. Now not a day goes by without Alfie either watching a fight or studying a fighter and taking elements of their style to incorporate into his own. “To be really good at something you’ve got to be obsessed with it,” he said. “That’s the way I am.”

Of the numerous boxers he admires, Floyd Mayweather Jnr, Ricky Hatton and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez are the ones he consults with regularity. It is from them he receives not only inspiration, but reminders to cover all bases. 

“I can do a little bit of both,” he said of his style. “In my last fight, I knew the guy [Caine Singh] was a pressure fighter, so I used my jab, went on the back foot, and walked him on to shots. But I can also put the pressure on. If someone’s walking away, I can go through the gears, put my combinations together, and put that pressure on. It depends on the situation. But to be a good fighter, to be a world-class fighter, you’ve got to adapt.”

After around 40 amateur fights, and after winning a national title, Middlemiss turned pro in December, beating Jesus Gonzalez over four rounds on his debut. Since then, he has boxed once more, and said, “I always thought my style was more suited to the pros than the amateurs. I had good success winning a national title as an amateur, but I always thought I was made for the longer rounds and longer fights. I’ve adapted to the pros really well.”

Middlemiss is now set for pro fight number three this Saturday on the big Frank Warren/DAZN show in Manchester. His opponent will be Mexico’s Alexander Morales, while at ringside, as always, will be Alfie’s father, Phil, whose face many in attendance will recognise. 

Yet it is Alfie, his son, who now has center stage. 

“You do get used to it at a young age, people taking pictures with him and stuff like that,” he said. “But there was nothing crazy really and it didn’t change anything in our lives. You still get loads of ‘Coronation Street’ fans recognizing him and stopping him now.”

Middlemiss continued: “He’s always been a big boxing fan, my dad. He loves going to the fights. But he’s become a proper superfan now that I’ve got involved. My whole family has, really. They’ve all been an amazing support to me. My mum [Leanne] helps me with the tickets and everything, and my dad has become a sort of co-manager. He just loves it and takes everything in his stride. I think he loves it more than me now.”

Having often watched his father on TV performing, now the roles are reversed. Now it is the turn of Phil Middlemiss to watch his son perform – be it from ringside or through a screen – and the only difference in this scenario is that what he is watching is live and rather dangerous. It is not, alas, something scripted, rehearsed and recorded. It is instead a spectacle some find too violent to even watch; something that does not always guarantee a satisfactory resolution, much less a happy ending. 

For that, a boxer must do more than simply act and play a part. They must be prepared; prepared to suffer, prepared to sacrifice and prepared to leave their comfort zone. In which case, Alfie Middlemiss has already nailed the audition. 

Elliot Worsell is a boxing writer whose byline first appeared in Boxing News magazine at the age of 17. He has, in the 20 years since, written for various publications, worked as press officer for two world heavyweight champions and won four first-place BWAA (Boxing Writers Association of America) awards. In addition to his boxing writing, Worsell has written about mixed martial arts for Fighters Only magazine and UFC.com, as well as worked as a publicist for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He has also written two non-fiction books, one of which, “Dog Rounds,” was shortlisted at the British Sports Book Awards in 2018.