Leon Bruce, from Stockport, competed for the AFSO English boxing title on the 25th April in a 5×2-minute rounds main event. The fight was against a familiar opponent in Aaron Gibson who was the champion. The two of them had prior history as Aaron had beaten Leon beforehand. But this time, it was Leon Bruce who walked out the victor as the new AFSO English champion.
Bruce had trained days upon weeks upon months for this title fight. He trains with a lot of different styles as there’s some in his gym who do MMA, kickboxing and, like him, boxing, so it wasn’t too difficult for him to find all sorts of different skill levels and styles to test himself against. Leon had professional level boxers come in just to spar with him to up his game even more and sharpen his skills.
He spoke a bit about how he managed to fit training around his life. He explained how, to keep at top fitness, he would go for runs before and after work being a police man. He trained most days, sharpening his boxing skills and sparring ability with some of the best amateurs in the country. As said previously, he had professional level fighters train with him, but he literally also had a professional train with him. Ashley Reece was part of his team for this fight, and he is a professional MMA fighter. He has fought for Bellator, soon he’ll fight in the PFL in Belgium, and he has also fought for the GFL. With that level of calibre by his side, he came in with lots of confidence for this fight.
His teammates had lots of good things to say about him. Ashley Reece complimented his ability to adapt, which is very important in a fight as you cannot assume it will always be going in your favour. Head coach, Jack Willis said: “he handles pressure really well” and “it’s not his first rodeo”. Teammate, Spencer Pointon said: “I’ve never seen him lock in this much” and “he is really, really, really fast”, so it’s safe to say his team had a lot of confidence in Leon.
When it came to fight day, Leon arrived early just to get familiar again with the venue and say hello to people. He was only there for a short period of time as he went back home to bring his family up with him. He would return home, relax and when it came half time for the show, he appeared. Ready and confident, Bruce got warmed up and got in the right headspace to fight.
The relationship between him and his opponent, Aaron Gibson, is a very friendly and respectful one. But when the referee said fight, you would think they hated each other as they put on an absolute spectacle. Bruce would start to take hold of the fight and control most of it, and when the five rounds passed, Bruce already new. His hand was raised and he was announced the new AFSO English champion.
In his post-fight interview, he said “This wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for my family”.
