Matthew Ellis’ career is a case of what could have been.
The Blackpool boxer was Britain’s No.1 ranked heavyweight in the amateurs and won the national ABAs as a junior and senior.
In 1996, he was selected to represent Great Britain at the Olympics – an opportunity every young boxer dreams of.
However, Ellis made the alarming decision to turn down his place in pursuit of a lucrative career in the paid ranks.
That year, rather than jumping on a plane to Atlanta with the rest of Team GB, Ellis turned over as a professional.
It is a choice that still haunts him to this day.
“Biggest mistake of my life,” Ellis told talkSPORT.com. “Hindsight is a beautiful thing, of course. At the time I went to Finland to box [in the Tammer Tournament], beat everyone, got to the final and got robbed.
“By then I was disillusioned with the amateur game, I’d boxed some great boxers and had decisions go the other way that shouldn’t have.
“I was young, ITV turned up, I had a five-fight deal with them. Looking back now, money talks and that’s why I did it. But I should have gone to those Olympics and then signed with someone like Frank Warren.
“If I had gone to those Olympics I believe I would have medalled and it would have set me up better for the pros.”
Ellis may not have gone to the Olympics but his glittering amateur résumé meant he turned over with plenty of fanfare.
During the early days of his pro career, Ellis walked to the ring in a tuxedo with two page 3 models hanging on either arm.
He was on the front cover of the local papers every week and was quickly rising up the professional ranks.
At the peak of his powers, Ellis made it to No.3 in the United Kingdom behind former world champions Henry Akinwande and Lennox Lewis.
The brash young puncher was expected to achieve similar heights to the aforementioned, but it didn’t quite pan out that way.
Soon he was being used as cannon fodder for sprightly up-and-comers like Tyson Fury and Tony Bellew.
His impressive 17-1-1 record quickly turned to 20-14-2 as his once-promising career took a steep, unforgiving decline.
So how did this happen? And where did it all go wrong?
“It wasn’t just the promoters fault, it was my fault as well,” Ellis added. “I believed in my own hype and it all went to my head.
“I was a big star, especially in Blackpool. I opened all the major shops in the town and traffic wardens would let me go without a parking ticket.
“If I got pulled over by the police it was the same thing, they’d let me go. Soon, I was cutting corners in my training and for some of my fights I didn’t even go to the gym.
“You see, when I was in the amateurs my dad [Frank Ellis] kept me in line, it was; fight, back in the gym, fight, back in the gym.
“But when I turned pro I left home and I discovered a social life. I remember my dad saying to my mum ‘we’ve lost him now’ and he was right.
“If I’d stayed with my dad I would have been heavyweight champion of the world, you ask anyone in the boxing world and they would say I was one of the biggest underachiever in British boxing.”
In 2003, Ellis was stopped by Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison in his first big step up.
‘Magic Matt’ injured his shoulder during the bout, which required several operations and, in his own words, ‘was never the same again’.
At the time, he was a highly-rated prospect but following another loss to Tony Moran and a three year hiatus from the sport, Ellis’ career went in a different direction.
This is when he started taking fights against overmatched opponents like Bellew, Fury and Enzo Maccarinelli – all of whom stopped him inside four rounds.
“Those fights against Tony Bellew and Tyson Fury weren’t me at my best. I came back for the money.
“Things had gone wrong in life, I was living out of my car, life went bang. Those fights came and I took them, tell me a man who wouldn’t.
“When you’re being offered that kind of money, you’re going to take it, especially in my position. My dad said ‘you’ll regret it’ and he was right, I do regret it. I still live with it now sometimes.”
Thankfully, Ellis is in a considerably better position today. He owns a solar installation company with a close friend and is a devoted father to his two boys Reuben and Roman.
At the age of 50, he claims to train harder than he did during his pro career, pushing himself through gruelling session after gruelling session as he looks to make up for lost time.
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News Summary:
- I got knocked out by Tyson Fury and Tony Bellew, boxing experts backed me to become a world champion but my commitment let me down
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