Dempsey Madden admits that he came close to hanging up the gloves before deciding to continue his pro career.
Rather than calling time, he’s next appearing at the Park Inn Hotel, in Northampton town centre (Silver Street), when BCB Promotions host their next show there, on Friday June 2.
‘The Mauler’ boxes again in his hometown, which has been the case for all four of his pro outings, although he suffered his first paid defeat, last time out.
Madden was stopped by Estonia’s Dmitri Protkunas, in the third of six rounds, but was ahead on points and in control of the contest, before the finish came.
Then came plenty of soul-searching for the 31-year-old welterweight, who is trained by James Conway at the town’s Team Shoe Box gym.
He’s long been inspired to have a crack at the Midlands welterweight title, which is currently held by Ryan Amos, and still has ambitions of reaching that level.
Madden does have three points successes on his pro ledger, beating Kevin McCauley, Phil Price and Paul Cummings, only conceding one round along the way.
Former area champion McCauley pinched a session during his debut, which remains the only one that Madden has lost. Price also earned a share of a round, though.
Madden did earn 39-37, 40-37 and 40-36 scorelines respectively, racking up a comprehensive points whitewash against Cummings.
He’s still relatively light on experience, having had all of three amateur bouts for the Weedon and Carmarthen Boxing Clubs, with 11 years out of the sport between the two gyms.
Madden said: “It’s time for me to get redemption. I thought about retiring. after the loss, but I couldn’t let myself go out like that. Now I’m ready to get back into it.
“The emotion that I was going through was more about my age. At one point, I thought that was me done. I don’t have to box, because it’s not about the money, but the bug came back.
“Straight after the fight, all I wanted to do was carry on, but I spent some time out of the gym. The longer that became, the more I thought about finishing.
“I want to crack on with the original plan, which is to become the Midlands welterweight champion. I might not be unbeaten anymore, but I can still do it.
“If the worse does happen and I lose again, at least questions will be answered about me, but I’ll fight tooth and nail to prove otherwise.
“I can talk about the fight now and I thought that I was OK to carry on, but I’ve got to respect the referee’s decision. I might have shaken it off, but it’s all hindsight now.
“I got caught with a good shot and maybe I should have taken a knee, to give myself time to recover and reset the situation. Ultimately, I stayed on my feet and never went down.
“The referee reckoned that I stumbled a bit, but I was still throwing shots back. I might not have answered a few, but I still think that I could have gone on for a bit longer.
“But it’s in the past now and I’m looking forward to getting it out of my system. I’m looking to secure the win and get straight back in the gym.
“I’m determined to really turn it on this year and try my hardest to go as far as I possibly can. My goals haven’t changed from when I started.”
Tickets for the Park Inn bill are available, priced at £40 for unreserved seating or £75 VIP ringside with buffet, directly from the boxers or by visiting myfighttickets.com.
