“We were driving around in a taxi, and then there was my face on a billboard. It was mental to be fair.”
Plymouth teen boxer Callum Dan continued his unbeaten record when he won a unanimous points verdict against Suresh Pasham on his debut in India, in a show at the Nexus Seawoods mall in Mumbai on Sunday, April 26
Callum Dan is the first to admit he was not naturally talented when it came to boxing. That seems hard to believe considering the incredible tale which has already unfolded despite him not yet turning 18.
Still 17, Callum became the youngest professional boxer in the UK when he fought just a month after his 16th birthday, by becoming licensed by the Asian Boxing Federation.
Unable to turn pro in the UK until he is 18, Callum is already building a substantial record through paid bouts in Asia – the latest of which was in front of 3,000 people at an air conditioned mall in India.
Having only completed his GCSEs at Lipson Co-operative Academy last year, the teenager found himself almost idolised when he fought – and won – at the Nexus Seawoods Mall in Mumbai.
After out-pointing local favourite Suresh Pasham, Callum won over an initially partisan crowd, so much so that he was mobbed by people wanting to get a photo with him, even giving him their children to hold to mark the occasion.
“Boxing out there, the people were great,” he said. “The support I had from just random people was amazing – I was being given six-month-old children to hold and take pictures with. I didn’t know why, it was just really weird.
“People were just handing me their kids, having photos of nans and grandads, it was mental.”
Plymouth teen boxer Callum Dan continued his unbeaten record when he won a unanimous points verdict against Suresh Pasham on his debut in India, in a show at the Nexus Seawoods mall in Mumbai on Sunday, April 26
Callum said it took an hour for him to even get out of the ring after beating Pasham, which put paid to his hopes of a post-fight treat. “My goal was to get a Pizza Hut after the fight, but no chance – the mall was shut by the time I got out of the ring,” he said.
“I had to take so many photos with people – I’d do everybody on the left side of the ring, and by the time I got to the right side, there was hundreds of people on the left side of the ring again. I was like, ‘all right, let’s go, more photos’.”
A partnership with promoters Marine Pro Boxing, who were staging the show, also meant that the Plymouth teenager’s face was plastered on billboards across the Indian megacity.
“They were all over the city,” said Callum. “We were driving around in a taxi, and then there was my face on a billboard. It was mental to be fair.
“But I was like ‘I’m here now, I’m used to it. I’m on a billboard, people like me, and it’s kind of like I’m a superstar over there’.”
Taking centre stage has become something Callum has had some experience of, having had six professional fights in Thailand prior to his Indian odyssey, with the first in April last year.
But he said that preparations for his Mumbai clash a little over a year later were made more difficult by the cultural differences.
“It wasn’t easy, to say the least,” he said. “The thing is with Thailand is that everything’s catered for foreigners, but in India, it’s not.
“I had two or three kilos to cut to make weight, and it’s all spicy foods, salty foods, big, carby foods.
“I’m trying to get a bit of steak, but cows are sacred, so I can’t eat steak.”
A love of boxing was borne out of necessity for the 17-year-old; dad Shaun boxed as an amateur, but has had more experience as a coach, and also trained Callum’s older brother Fin.
With Callum and Fin’s mum Karly at work, Shaun would take his youngest son along to Devonport Amateur Boxing Club from an early age.
Callum explains: “I had no other choice but to sit in the gym and watch my brother at the bags when I was like six, when my mum was at work and my dad was taking me.
“But apart from that, I was always in the gym watching people older than me train. And then from there, I started to hit the bags, hit the pads, and then it was kind of was normal for me.”
He remembers his first contest, which was a skills bout, a chance for young boxers to put on a show without a winner being decided, when he was still in primary school.
He said: “It must’ve been like a month after month after my 10th birthday, I think.
“I boxed in Bodmin, if I remember correctly. I had my first skills bout against a kid from Torquay. I loved it. I wasn’t naturally talented at all, a lot of these kids are very fast twitch, but I was very slow. I needed to work quite hard to get to where I am.”
Callum describes himself as more ‘gritty’, having had to put in the training to improve his abilities.
“You get kids that, you put them in a ring with no boxing training, and they’ll snap into it instantly,” he said. “I was not like that. I had to learn.
“I developed it over the space of five years training every day, twice a day. It’s finally caught up and I’m where I want to be.”
Callum trained and boxed regularly as an amateur for the next six years, while attending Lipson Vale Primary School and then what is now Lipson Academy. But it was a conversation with Intense ABC coach Marlee Dann, in Honicknowle, which saw them hatch a plan for Callum to turn professional two years earlier than he would normally be able to – by heading east to Thailand.
Callum explained: “I didn’t want to box for England boxing anymore. I did not want to go back to amateur boxing.
“My only options were white collar or professional, and Marlee put it to us that we could go out to Thailand and get a licence out there and turn pro. And obviously, I agreed. It was just a great opportunity for me.
“I thought it was just one of his crazy ideas, but to be honest, it come off and, yeah, he was serious.”
Plymouth boxer Callum Dan (right) in action
Dann helped Callum and Shaun to secure a licence with the Asian Boxing Federation, while meant Callum was able to turn pro and have a debut at the Thai Payak Boxing Gym in Thanyaburi.
The idea was a masterstroke, and reinvigorated Callum’s love of boxing.
“I was only in the gym for about three months before that fight. I got right back into it, hard, and I was still fat. And I wasn’t really in the fighting shape I’m in now, but got back out there.
“It’s kind of what I needed to put me back on the right path, back in the gym, back training, just something to focus on straightaway.
The clash, against fellow debutant Noy Vongsoudounag, lasted just 16 seconds, as Callum stopped his opponent early in the first round.
Callum said his solid amateur work had more than prepared him for what was to come.
“It was surreal at the start, but my first fight definitely was something where I was quite nervous,” he said.
“But thinking back, all the fights I had as a kid were on this on the exact same level, it was just it’s worded differently that I was a professional.
“The rounds are longer, the fights are longer, the people are older, but as a kid, I was boxing in hard fights constantly most weekends, sometimes twice two or three times a weekend.
“Up until probably my last fight, my amateur career was very much harder than starting my pro career.”
Callum Dan against Ratthaphum Ngambaisri in the Asian Boxing Federation middleweight title fight at the World Siam Stadium in Bangkok
He added: “The fights were nothing really, especially at the start – I’ve had harder spars when I was 12 or 13 years old.
“The level I was in as an amateur, I was in against European medallists, GB medallists, beating top kids in England – so probably end of next year I’m not going to be touching that level again.
“That’s the level that you’re at as an amateur, and then it takes so long to get back there as a professional. This is a It’s basically a different sport. It changes completely.
“As an amateur I was probably boxing the equivalent of top 15 people in the UK as a pro. That’s the level you’re at as an amateur compared to professionals. There’s not really a lot of people that are at that level.”
Although he might have become used to becoming something of a name in Asia, he is grounded by his friends – who thought he was joking when he first told them he was going to box professional in Thailand – and his family, including mum Karly, dad Shaun and brothers Fin and little Crue, aged two.
Dad Shaun, who still coaches at Intense ABC when not working as a plasterer or travelling as Callum’s coach and cornerman, said the journey has been made possible through friends who have sponsored his son.
He said: “It wouldn’t have been possible without the sponsors.
“I have my put my hand in my pocket as well to fund it, but a lot of the sponsors that have got behind Cal are really good friends of mine.
“They’re all hardworking people, and they’ve got behind [Callum’s] story as well, and the fact that he’s so young and they can see the potential in what he is.
“They didn’t really know where it was going to go, they probably thought he was just going to box a couple of times, and I don’t think they really felt that he could maybe win a title in Thailand
“So for them, it’s good that he’s kind of gone to a certain level and he’s getting the attention he’s got, because it repays some of the investment that they’ve got if they’re getting the attention as well.”
But he said Callum is the one who has had to put the hours in at the gym to train.
Plymouth teenager Callum Dan made his professional boxing debut in Thailand
He said: “It’s difficult: it’s a commitment for him to put that time in, he trains like 10 times a week, morning and evening. So he’s putting in his time and investment. The sponsors are putting in theirs, but it’s also the family time it takes as well.
“I’ve got my missus at home with his younger brother as well while we’re away, and I lose money at work while I’m away with in Asia with him. There’s a lot that goes around that, and there’s a lot of people that sacrifice their own time as well for him, but it’s coming to fruition at the minute, and we’re on a good path. We’ve still got a lot of work to do – in his last fight there was mistakes that we’ve got to rectify. But we’ve got time to do that, and we will.”
Callum has already secured one title, having won the Asian Boxing Federation (ABF) Silver Middleweight Championship by third-round stoppage in October last year, with another title tilt imminent.
But his long term aim remains to return to the UK and gain a British licence once he turns 18.
Shaun said: “It’s tough to do it as a career because you need a lot of backing.
“You need you’ve got to be at it every day, and you’ve got to have a promoter in place to take you higher. If you haven’t got that, then a lot of people just fall by the wayside and quit.
“Everything needs to be in place really, and it’s hard down here for every sport, whether it’s boxing, football, whatever it is, because we’re so far out on a limb.
“You’re not in those areas to really kind of get yourself noticed.
“You have got good lads who want to progress their careers, and get on the ladder, and it’s out of their hands, they can’t. So, we’ve got to do things a little bit differently with Callum, and get him out there a bit.
“This is why we’re taking a risk in getting him out there early, just so that there could be someone that notices, or we could put him in a elevated position – jump the ladder if you like.
“Obviously, the end goal would be a British title, when he’s kind of is old enough to do that, but between now and then, it’s going to be building and just progressing, really.”
In the interim, Callum is training in Plymouth and gaining experience of training in the same gym as British welterweight champion Constantin Ursu and IBO All-Africa super welter champion Tiago Muxanga.
But it is another boxer who has professional experience, Lewis Everson, who Shaun said has generously given his time and experience to help Callum improve.
Plymouth teenager Callum Dan (right) made his professional debut in Thailand under the tutelage of Marlee Dann (left)
Shaun said: “We’re fortunate that we’ve got someone like Lewis Everson that is that good in the gym helping Callum, and being generous with knowledge.
“And that’s the key, as you can spar as much as you want and just have wars in the gym, but for someone to say ‘do this or move that way’, that’s the key to his progression. We’ve just got to keep humble and keep working hard.”
Gaining the Youth Super Middleweight title will fulfil another of Callum’s short-term goals before he can turn pro in the UK.
He said: “I can hopefully get something big ticked off on my record, get something that’s going to put me up there in the eyes of promoters like Queensberry and Matchroom, and just hopefully they bring an offer to the table, and I can carry on fighting.”
But for now, Callum said he doesn’t miss the ‘normal’ life of a teenager, apart from perhaps getting to enjoy a takeaway.
“Not really,” the talented youngster said. “I don’t drink or do anything like that – the only thing I wish sometimes is that I could eat a takeaway, but that’s about it. Apart from that, I enjoy going to the gym. If I don’t do it, I get a bit bored. I am just living the dream, doing what I want to do.”