Steed Woodall chases big fights against Kévin Lele Sadjo, Diego Pacheco and Edgar Berlanga

A change in fortune was long overdue Steed Woodall.

Last year his mother had a heart attack and then COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). Believing that he was about to lose his life, depression struck his son who had also been separated from the mother of his daughter.

After accepting fights with some of the top 10 British super-middleweights and light-heavyweights only to see them fall, Woodall was struggling and struggling. With debts to pay and a two-year-old daughter to look after – sharing the responsibility with his mother 50-50 – the Birmingham fighter grew to hate boxing and retirement crossed his mind more than once.

Then, on June 14, a breakthrough finally came. Having been out in April due to injury, Woodall got another chance to face British, Commonwealth and European super-middleweight champion Lerrone Richards.

Another defeat and who knew when the next opportunity would come for Woodhall. But, that night, it all came together for the 31-year-old who stopped and stunned the newly-acclaimed world champion in the sixth round with a determination that was willing to do anything to win.

“Some say they’re willing to give you everything,” Woodall said Debate News. “[But] I was happy to be driven in the frame. And I know that sounds silly but after everything I went through and being there that night, to take that belt. [WBO Inter-Continental] home to my daughter, it meant a lot to me. I would put everything on the line.”

The happy ending continued with Woodall’s mother in attendance at the Bolton Whites Hotel to watch her son win. After falling to his knees in victory, overcome with emotion, Woodall had one more thing to do.

“When I left the ring, the first thing I did was put the belt on my mother,” said the man from Birmingham.

“I was happy to win the fight but there was no surprise or shock or anything like that. I knew right in the back of my mind that it was going to happen. I never doubted the outcome and whether I could do it. I’ve known for a long time that I can beat that level of fighting.”

With Friday over, and a weekend to enjoy his victory with his family, Monday came and Woodall took his tools and went back to work at the flooring company he founded a few years ago.

He said: “I’m putting in hard floors and fitted bedrooms. “Everyone has debts to pay and I have struggled in boxing, I get the right opportunities and without the support of a high-level promoter, there is really no power in the money you earn. There are inconsistencies, you get short notice wars and stuff like that.”

Woodall now has to wait and see what happens next. Nearly six weeks on from his victory, Steed ‘The Stallion’ continues to be linked with Paul Counihan and his son Louie’s coaching team while manager Jon Pegg keeps his ear down for another fight.

On July 11, Woodall took to his Instagram platform to call out rising super-middleweight stars Diego Pacheco, Edgar Berlanga and current European 168lbs champion Kévin Lele Sadjo.

“Sadjo was promised [before the Richards fight] but it didn’t work out because I wasn’t ranked high enough,” said Woodall.

If Woodall were to be offered a fight in America, however, it would not be an unusual place for the Brit who made his Stateside debut in 2014 and has fought there 11 times with five bouts in the Dominican Republic in between. The story begins at the end of his novice career, at the age of 18, and he fought in the World Championships in Armenia.

“I am ranked number 5 in the world. I won the world No.2. And my main goal was to get into the GB team and train for the Olympics. From the age of 16 until the end, I was tested regularly, but the GB team did not give me a place.

“Even after the World Championship, I was considered an unfortunate loser. Even the coaches who were in my corner in the GB team, said that I should have won the fight against the eventual world champion. So, I thought, surely now I will be in the group. They also told me “maybe next year”.

“I knew my friend was in America. He put me in touch with a manager who was into boxing. He was with Peter ‘Kid Chocolate’ Quillin when he was world champion. He was the same weight, so he was the person I followed.

“He took me there for a few weeks. I’m doing something big. And he was impressed by what he saw and offered me a contract. After the first two weeks he was there, it was a really big, hard decision to make. I’m a real family man and I’m close to all my family and I’m in the middle of the world, it’s not like you’re in Spain. A nine-hour flight, so to wake up and leave my family and see them only once a year… I remember thinking to myself at the time, I’m a man now. But when I look back and think about the way I was at 19, I think, no, I wasn’t a man.

“I had to deal with a lot. Obviously I’m glad I was brave enough to decide to go after it. It gave me a lot of features that I bring to the ring. About mental strength, mental toughness, things like that. “

“I was in Miami for a year and a half to begin with,” he continued. “Then I did a year and a half in Houston, Texas, under Ronnie Shields. And he eventually returned to Miami for another half year. And then the battles were really less for me at that time. I decided to return to England. I was really unlucky. I slipped on the snow and broke my leg. A rare accident. It knocked me out for a whole year. It was a long time before I was able to return to training. For a long time I thought my career was over. “

Woodall has put on the gloves in New York (at a facility called BB King Blues Club & Grill), defeated Gennady Golovkin’s opponent Steve Rolls in Houston, raised his hand in victory at the World Gym Arena in Texas City and took it again. his first indoor victory at Club Maquiteria in the Dominican Republican capital of Santa Domingo.

“The biggest fight I had in Houston was the one I lost against Steve Rolls. And that was the biggest learning curve of my career,” said Woodall (19-2-1, 12 KOs).

“It’s not an excuse but before that, I haven’t seen my family for a year. It was the first time my family saw me as a producer because they were flying around. I was trained for a southpaw opponent. That was changed at the last minute. It was my first time making the middleweight limit and I cut a lot of weight. Everything that could have gone right in that fight, went wrong.

“I have been looking at the scores. I got Rolls down in the third round. In the fourth round, my ear drum was punctured. I never recovered from it and went through the cycle. I guess if I had to sum it up, I would call it a learning curve.”

The Dominican Republic brought a less tasteful venue and showed some unfamiliar spectators to the ring.

“I would say ghetto.” I remember getting there and, some of the fights, there would be chickens running around the area. There will be a lot of homeless kids coming in looking for something. I would give them what I have. It was honestly a surreal experience.

“Two wars have not been fought yet. I think it was my last fight in the Dominican Republic. I didn’t know who I was fighting. I entered the ring and saw this boy walking to the ring. He must have weighed about 100 kilos. I’m not even kidding. It’s on my Instagram. I actually stopped him in the fourth round, it should have been an eight round contest.”

And yet having been a professional fighter for over 10 years, and locked up in five different countries, Steed Woodall’s career has only just begun.