By Shaun Brown
It’s a case of time’s a healer right now for recent Prizefighter finalist Tyrone Nurse. The light welterweight, 22-1 (4), continues to recover from a hand injury suffered in sparring earlier this month, but the 22-year-old remains hopeful he will be out by this summer. Nurse told BoxingScene.com exactly how the injury occurred.
“I came back from Spain on April 4 and I got offered a fight with Jason Cook. On proviso we said 'yes'. I had been keeping myself in shape when I was on holiday by doing some running and when I returned I did some sparring. And during one spar I hit the guy right on the top of the head with my right hand. I thought I broke it but fortunately I hadn’t.”
An encouraging showing in last December’s 140lb Prizefighter event saw the Yorkshireman go all the way to the final after impressing against veteran Young Mutley and the hard hitting Dale Miles, in the final he faced friend and former sparring partner Adil Anwar.
“I felt from the beginning I’d be facing Adil in the final,” said Nurse. “I was pleased how things went for me and when I got to the final I was very confident I could beat Adil. His style over three rounds is a right pain in the a**e. Once I’m back on track I would like a rematch with him over the longer distance, which I think will be better suited to me against him. I’m Huddersfield and he’s Leeds so it would make for a great Yorkshire battle too. I’m not going to chase him though but I would say it’s a mental thing for me because at some point I do want revenge.”
Nurse hopes to be back in the gym within the week but remains cautious of returning too soon in case of another setback. He also has another reason to be careful, after being a free agent throughout his professional career, he is close to having a new promoter in place by the time his next fight takes place.
“We’ve been speaking to people behind the scenes about a promotional deal ever since Prizefighter. I’ve had a positive response and I think I know what route I’m choosing. “I’ve been on (Frank) Maloney shows, Matchroom shows but now’s the time for me to have a promoter and to make my move,” he declared.
Having just turned 22 at the turn of the year, Nurse knows that he still has plenty of time on his side to catch up with the rest of a division that has as much strength in depth as any other in Britain.
In a 23 fight career to date Nurse has faced mainly journeymen and unheralded names that haven’t really seen him gain any sort of momentum or rise to be in the mix with other contenders. However, that horrible boxing trait of fighters pulling out left, right and centre has hindered his progress and at times derailed any motivation he’s achieved from hard work in the gym.
“To be honest, it’s the best I could’ve done by now regarding who I’ve fought,” Nurse said when reviewing his career so far. “We’ve had multiple pull-outs from guys who not only had similar records to me but were also a similar age and had fought on Sky TV shows in the past.
“It definitely affected me motivationally especially when some of these guys withdrew 2-3 days before the fight. Because of that I’d get a late notice replacement who wouldn’t come to fight me. And even getting 2-3 weeks notice would see me lose some of my desire in training.”
With the help of his father and trainer, Chris Ashton, Nurse hopes that the success of Prizefighter and a new promoter will catapult him into the pack that is currently chasing British champion Ashley Theophane.
He knows the challenge ahead and is prepared to be patient. If an opportunity presents itself, though, he has every faith that can hang with the very best domestically. He said: “There’s always a queue in boxing. Guys fighting for titles or fighting in eliminators but I know that on my day I can stand with any of these guys win or lose.”
Twitter @shaun_brown
