Dean Lewis praised Dean Dodge for coming through his fight against Sean Davis with ‘flying colours’ to make it nine wins from his first 10 fights and remain undefeated, writes Josh Thomas.
Dodge has now won his last seven fights in a row after beating Davis on points in Taunton's Wellsprings Leisure Centre.
Coach Lewis has been with 26-year-old Dodge from the start and despite the obstacles they've had to overcome, is looking forward to more in the future.
"We've been working together since he turned pro, we actually met through social media because Dean was looking for someone to do pads with," said Lewis.
"Someone suggested he should come to me, so I've had him since the start, this was our 10th fight. It's a milestone for us.
"It's funny there was another two kids here making their debut as a pro trainer and a pro boxer and I said to him when we got here '10 fights ago that was us'.
"It's been a heck of a journey and hopefully long may it continue."
But Lewis says Dodge's win over Davis was a 'good test' and admits the fight was a stepping stone to bigger and better things.
"Sean Davis is a good kid," he added. "He's been at title level, won English, WBC International, boxed for the British title and he was a good opponent.
"We purposely chose him before moving onto anything else to give Dean a bit of a test and he came through it with flying colours.
"There's always things to work on, no one's perfect but overall it was a good win."
However, their journey could have been so different as because of certain situations, the pair might have never met.
"He's come through a lot," added Lewis. "From being told he couldn't get a pro license when he wanted to turn over because of medical reasons, which got overturned by a specialist, so that kept him out of the ring for over a year.
"In a way it was lucky that did happen. If that didn't happen, me and Dean probably would never have met and we would never have been on this journey.
"I'm very proud because I've had him from the start it's good to stand back and watch him box and get these wins.
"Nine wins as a pro is never easy to do, he's had a few life tests during that time and he's passed them with flying colours. It makes proud to stand back definitely and naturally to look and think what he is doing is right."
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