Wyatt Sanford makes his professional debut on Thursday after his Olympic run in 2024, but if you witnessed how his amateur career started, you might not have expected the heights he has reached. 

Sanford will face Shawn Archer in his professional debut at junior welterweight at the Montreal Casino in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Sanford, a 26-year-old from Kennetcook, Nova Scotia, Canada, took to boxing at 11. Boxing, however, didn’t take to him. 

“My childhood best friend at the time got me into boxing and I started off fighting right-handed,” Sanford told BoxingScene. “As you can tell, I don't fight right-handed anymore, because I started 0-4, not a very good record.”

Sanford’s reason for turning to a southpaw was a fluke at first. 

“The reason we switched to southpaw was my older brother at the time was going to Nationals and he had a southpaw in his weight division, so my coach asked me if I would switch southpaw to get him warmed up for the competition,” Sanford explained. “I found out that it was a lot easier for me to fight left-handed so we stuck with it and started the journey from there.”

The decision paid off when he turned 16 and his focus shifted to boxing. 

“Even though I was 0-4, I am very competitive,” Sanford said. “If I'm falling behind in the game or a fight, I'm going to do everything I can to come out on top. Even though I was 0-4, I was still driven to keep going.”

That led to a distinguished amateur career. One that saw him reach the highest competition in the 2024 Olympics for Canada and winning a gold medal at the Pan-Am Games. 

“The best moment from the Pan-Am Games was listening to the national anthem during the medal ceremony. Winning the medal was fantastic, but it's such a different sense of pride when they're playing your national anthem because of what you have accomplished and what you achieved,” Sanford said. “For me, that one memory of standing on top of the podium listening to the national anthem.”

His debut opponent is a 37-year-old from Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada, who enters on a three-fight losing streak and a record of 2-5 (2 KOs). 

“It’s been about mindset,” Sanford said of his approach. “We're going about it the same way. We want that calm, aggressive presence in the ring, not going to try and change too much, definitely, just try and have a little bit more impact on all of my punches.”

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.