Manchester’s own Anthony "Million Dollar" Crolla will make his final appearance in the ring as a fighter on Nov. 2, as part of the Katie Taylor-Christina Linardatou card. Crolla's career started back in 2006, when he made his pro debut in Manchester. But even with a 13-year run coming to an end, the former WBA world lightweight champion knows he has to keep his emotions in check come fight night.
“It will be an emotional night, but I can’t think about getting emotional until after the fight” said Crolla, “Maybe in the changing room or back at the hotel. You can’t fight on emotion; you’ve got to stick to your plan, and that’s what I’ll do on Nov. 2.”Crolla (34-7-3, 13 KOs) got into boxing at a young age, copying what his father did in the gym and quickly fell in love with the sport.
“My dad was an ex-professional, it’s like any young kid you know, you sort of copy what your dad does,” said Crolla. “I was just there in the gym and picking up little bits. I was a bit of a natural, and that’s what got me into boxing. I was also playing football [soccer] at the time, too, and I wanted to do something a little bit different. I knew when I was 11 that I could compete, so just before my 11th birthday I went back to the gym, and within a few months I was having my first amateur fight. I wouldn’t say I was hooked from my first amateur fight, I was hooked from the very first time I went back into the gym.”
Looking back on his career, which has included BBBofC English super feather and lightweight belts plus the WBO Inter-Continental and WBA world lightweight titles, Crolla was very humble in trying to sum up his legacy.
“Rollercoaster sums up my career. There’s been ups, downs — thankfully there has been more ups than downs,” Crolla said. “I can walk away satisfied from the sport. I’ve achieved what I set out to do, fought some great fighters, some unbelievable fighters. I think I boxed some of the best of my generation, and that’s something I can always look back on.”
The 32-year-old Manchester, England, native has fought 44 times, with 34 wins and 13 via knockout. His favorite bout was in May 2016 at Manchester Arena, defending his WBA lightweight title against Ismael Barroso.
"That night I went in there, big underdog, game plan went to perfection and walking to the ring as a world champion and walking out as a world champion," Crolla said. "Great support that night ... but there’s been a lot of great nights."
When Crolla hangs up the gloves on Nov. 3, he isn’t leaving boxing for good. He is already making a new name for himself as a trainer and is currently overseeing lightweight prospect Dylan Evans’ career. He has also given his opinions on the fight game as a pundit for U.K. broadcasters.
"I’d love to do a bit of both in an ideal world," Crolla said about his future plans. "The media side I really enjoy, so if I have the opportunity to talk about the sport that I love, and I do generally love the sport, I definitely take it. I also love the coaching, I’ve got a professional fighter at the minute that I manage, but I also love it with the amateurs, being in the gym a good three, four times a week. We are having to turn kids away as we are so busy; hopefully I can put on a few more classes for newcomers.”
Leaving the lightweight division behind, Crolla feels it is in a very strong place and will continue to get better.
“It’s fantastic. We’ve got arguably the pound-for-pound No. 1 in Vasiliy Lomachenko and a lot of other great fighters in the lightweights and the divisions below. The smaller guys are starting to get the credit that they deserve, rather than just the heavyweights. There’s still some great fights yet to be made at lightweight; Devin Haney has the potential to be one of the superstars of boxing in the future.”