By Andrew Wake:
Behind every good boxer stands a good teacher and featherweight prospect Leo D’erlanger has one of the best trainers in the game.
The affable Banbury man had upped sticks from his Oxfordshire homeland and shot up the M1 to Sheffield so that he can benefit from the legendary wisdom of Brendan Ingle.
D’erlanger, who makes his professional debut in Rotherham on Saturday night, now lives in the Steel City Monday to Friday so that he can learn everything possible from the grand master of Wincobank as well as his sons Dominic and John.
“The Ingles’ reputation for turning out champion after champion speaks for itself,” D’erlanger said. “Prince Naseem, Junior Witter and Johnny Nelson all came out of that gym.
“Brendan is such a good trainer but as well as teaching you about boxing he teaches you a lot of mental things which you can use and he does interviews with you so that you can get used to people asking you questions. He covers every angle.
“My first day there he had me shadow boxing while singing in front of everyone, but that helps to make you more confident and more relaxed.”
Those training sessions, where multiple boxers move up and down lines on the floor while bellowing out songs like ‘I can sing a rainbow’, are unorthodox to say the least, although they are tried and tested for fighters coming out the famous St Thomas’ Boys and Girls Club on Newman Road.
But Mr Ingle senior isn’t the only fistic intellectual to have influenced D’erlanger’s time in the sweet science.
His father Rudolph was a keen amateur in the United States and even reached the final of the Harvard University boxing championships.
“He taught me and brother to box when we were kids,” Leo recalled. “He’s a very clever man, he had to be to go to Harvard, but he’s always loved boxing and showed us how to do it.”
At 28 years of age, some would say that the featherweight hope has left it late to enter the pro game, but his elusive style in the amateurs means he has time to burn.
“I’m a young 28. I don’t smoke or drink so my body is in great shape so I think it’s more to do with how you look after yourself,” Leo stated.
“Rather than age I think it’s the number of punchers you’ve taken which affects the way you box and I’ve got plenty of years left in me.”
D’erlanger has all the fundamentals of a solid stylist, he’s deft at attacking the body and can throw punches in bunches upstairs while remaining difficult to counter. Because of this he feel the paid side of the sport will suit him to a tee.
“I think I’m more suited to the pros because I can put combination punchers together, whereas in the amateurs it was more about landing in ones and twos,” he said.
“I’m a good boxer and I can also mix it to the body well, but I’m definitely an elusive boxer.”
We get the opportunity to see those skills in action when he makes his pro berth against tough Scottish southpaw Ryan McNicol at the Magna Centre in Rotherham this weekend.
The dust up forms part of the undercard for his stablemate Kid Galahad’s big cross roads battle with seasoned veteran Jason Booth, and while D’erlanger does not wish to take any of the shine off his gym buddy, he’s certainly looking to turn a few heads in the arena.
He said: “I’m just looking forward to getting my pro debut out of the way, putting on a good performance and showing people what a skilful boxer I am.
“I don’t know anything about McNicol, but I trust my matchmaker and I know I’m going to win. I’m not nervous because I know this is my first step and I’m going to have to fight much better opponents in the future if I’m going to get to where I want to be.”
And where the young Sugar Ray Leonard fan wants to be is at British and European title level within the next couple of years.
