Calum French must be the unluckiest man in British boxing.
But French is now looking to put misfortune behind him after linking up with a new trainer, former world champion Anthony Crolla.
He returns to action on Saturday, fighting at the Rainton Meadows Arena near his hometown of Gateshead.
French was previously a stellar amateur boxer, who went on a fine run at lightweight for GB on the international circuit.
He kept himself in that division as his friend, a clubmate as well as international team-mate, Luke McCormack had the spot in the division above.
But his dream of going to the Olympics was snatched away when his whole weight class was eliminated from the Tokyo Games.
Image:
French with amateur team-mates Pat (left) and Luke McCormack
“You should have seen what I was going through on GB, what I was eating to make that weight. It was rough,” French told Sky Sports.
“I was thinking to myself this is hell but if I go through hell, I’ll be able to get to the Olympics and I went through that, then that was taken away from us.
“Then I was just thinking right, that’s made us want this even more. And then what I’ve went through since then has made us want it even more.
“Everything’s just fuelling the fire even more for us.”
Professional boxing ground to a halt during the lockdowns of the coronavirus pandemic, which meant French only turned pro at the end of 2021.
For his last two bouts, though, injuries to his shoulders severely compromised him. He tried to fight through that, but ultimately lost to Jeff Ofori in 2023, his first pro defeat.
Subsequently he had to entirely rebuild, both recovering from surgery and having to assemble a new team.
For a touted prospect who has suffered a first pro defeat early in their career, hampered by injury too, the landscape of the sport becomes extremely bleak.
“I had no coach, no manager. No arms. And I just thought I’ve got every excuse to quit here and wrap in. But I just thought there’s no quit in us,” French said.
“I’ve been fighting for 20 years. I’m 30 now, just turned 30, I’ve been fighting since I was nine. There’s no way I can wrap in now. This is the adversity I think that I’ve got to go through.”
In 2023 he suffered a full tear in a tendon in his left shoulder but went through with an eight-round bout against journeyman Jordan Ellison.
“The surgeon said you can get through it, it will be painful and it has to be managed through the camp,” French said.
“What he meant by managed was I’ll not be able to spar the full camp. I did the full camp with one arm basically, fought with one arm, won that fight, got the surgery on my left shoulder.”
Image:
French turned professional in 2021
But then when he was just a week into training for his next fight, against step-up opponent Jeff Ofori, he threw a right hook… “I’ve felt my other shoulder completely go.”
But French thought: “Three months with my left shoulder, if I start complaining about my other shoulder they’re going to think I’m a messer.”
He went through with the contest but the pain from the injury was agonising. Every time he missed a punch it felt like his right shoulder was dislocating.
“It was painful,” he said. “We’d built the strength up in it.
“I’d go and see the physio and I’d test strong again on all my tests because there were no tears or anything in the muscles.”
Only when it was too late did they work out a bone at the front of his shoulder had fractured.
Image:
Serious shoulder injuries hampered French in his last two fights
“So every time I missed with a hook or a straight shot, there was no bone at the front of my shoulder to catch it, so it would come out,” French said.
“So I’d fought the Jeff Ofori fight with a fractured shoulder. The Jeff Ofori fight I had one fractured shoulder and the other shoulder was three months post-op. So I basically might as well have fought the bloke with both hands tied behind my back.”
But he added: “I don’t really like talking about it too much to be honest because it sounds like pure excuses. It’s that mad of a story it sounds unbelievable.
“He beat us on the night. He was the better man on that night for whatever reason.”
For his return to boxing, he had no manager, no trainer and no promoter. Given all his misfortunes, French is surely the unluckiest man in British boxing.
“If I had a pound for every time someone said that to us, I’d be a very rich man,” French laughed.
“I just think to myself, keep going through the adversity, it’ll get good for you. I just kept believing in myself. I believed that my dedication to the sport will come to fruition.
“I believe that hard work will prosper. I had every reason to quit. That was the easy way out. But I didn’t want that.”
Now his luck must change. He was welcomed back by Rob McCracken at the GB gym and could train with them in Sheffield.
Image:
French is now being trained by former world champion Anthony Crolla
To continue his professional career he joined Crolla’s gym in Manchester and will be coached by the former lightweight world champion. French’s first fight back will be on Saturday.
“I will get to where I want to get to in the sport. If it takes starting again and rebuilding everything from the ground up, that’s what I’m willing to do. I’ve made this fresh start down here in Manchester with Ant Crolla, I’ve got a full new team,” French said.
“This is the change I needed.”
He is determined to give it everything. “With all the experience and everything I’ve been through, it’s just leading us into being more of an athlete and a winner’s mindset where it’s just like everything I do through the day is just solely geared towards how can I self improve,” French said.
“This is going to be my last proper go at it. I’ve had three surgeries now on my shoulders, I’m 30 years old. If I’m going to have a proper crack at it, it’s going to be now.
“I might just be a late bloomer. All this, knockbacks, rejections, everything, is just fuelling the fire inside of us.
“It’s like everything that’s happened has just made us want it even more.”
And, he added with fervour: “If it doesn’t work out at least I’ll be able to sleep at night knowing I had a proper go at it. I’m having a go at it, me.”