THE professional boxing business is like no other. Many people think it’s full of glitz and glamour, but you couldn’t be any further from the truth.

The majority of pros in the country have other jobs, while grinding away each day to achieve their lifelong dreams of winning titles and becoming household names.

Not to mention certain characters behind the scenes who are merely out there for personal gain, abusing boxers along their way.

With Shipley-based middleweight Nathan Cawood, 28, on the verge of turning pro, all this is what turned him away from doing it earlier.

“The pro game is a dodgy kind of business”, the fish tackle worker said. “It is not like the amateurs, where the lads box for the love of the sport. A lot of it boils down to money.

“I just felt like the people that were interested weren’t going to take me where I wanted to be in terms of looking after me, getting me the right fights and managing me correctly.”

Instead, Cawood remained on the amateur scene, attempting to one day reach the Olympic games.

He has had great success too, winning a whole host of county and regional titles as well as his greatest accolade, becoming junior national champion at 16.

Speaking on his career to date, he said: “You get nervous every fight because you’ve trained hard and you want to win.

“Every bout win or lose is a learning experience. You always take something away from each fight and work on what went wrong in the gym.

“It has been a rollercoaster. I have been on the wrong end of a few bad decisions where I’ve won the contest but not got the nod.

“It has been frustrating at times especially boxing at elite level against England and GB boxers.

“I have got quite far in my championship bouts but I never had the opportunity. I got beat and had little breaks due to injuries which set me back a little bit.

“I hung fire and stayed amateur to try go down the Olympic route but with time ticking on it was now or never (in terms of turning pro).”

The Bradfordian’s boxing journey begin at 13 in Huddersfield’s Gladiators gym, famous for producing ex British super lightweight champion Tyrone Nurse.

It’s here where Cawood first learnt about the dangers of the game and what could happen to him if he wasn’t careful.

He added: “I trained alongside him (Nurse) as a young kid when he was coming through, I saw a lot of the bad side of it. Journeymen going into fights when they’ve not got a chance to win and basically being mismanaged.

“People see it as glamorous with the big money but a lot of the time people are working full time jobs and training twice a day.

“I run in the morning before I start work, then I am training in the evening.”

Cawood will turn over with the trusted pair of Brandon and Den Doyle in his corner. He tells the tale of how he first met the latter.

“I have known Den since I was a kid”, he said. “I rode past his garden on my bike and he was on the pads with his sons, so I asked if he would do that for me.

“Further down the line I ended up going to his gym and boxing for his club.”

The Queensbury-born fighter made the decision to let Kevin Maree handle his business outside the ring in his new venture.

The veteran manager, turned promoter, has led the likes of Manchester duo Mark Heffron and Michael Gomez in the past.

Of course, Cawood’s aim is to sit at the top table of the sport in the future but he is keen to focus on taking it one step at a time.

He said: “I have signed the contract and my license has just come back so it is just the case of doing my medical and getting date for a show.

“I want to hopefully get one fight out before the year is out and end it on a positive note. It’s looking likely to be November.

“Then I want to work my way towards a central area title first. Once we have cracked that it’s the English and British. Everyone’s goal is to win a world title. I am just being realistic.

“Once I get to 10 fights, stepping up each time, then we will look at challenging for that first title.”

He is also looking forward to the prospect of fighting in front of his home crowd as he moves through the gears in his career.

“Kevin is already looking at putting shows on in Bradford, Huddersfield and Leeds because he has signed a lot of Yorkshire fighters.”

If you are interested in sponsoring Nathan along his journey, contact him on 07853044446.