‘I don’t really want to finish, but I’ve been getting punched in the head for 22 years, it’s a long time’

ANTHONY Crolla always has a smile on his face, but on November 2 he will be fighting back the tears.

After 13 years and 34 bouts as a professional, the Moston fighter will step into the ring for the final time.

And he will do so at the venue where, in 2015, he became a Manchester sporting legend, on a night when he silenced the doubters and critics and completed his lifelong dream of becoming a world champion.

It’s a venue where he went as a kid for birthday treats to watch his boxing idols. It’s a venue where he made his pro debut in 2006 – a points win over Abdul Rashid. It’s a venue where he won – and lost – his WBA lightweight title.

It’s a venue he has sold out time and time again in his 13 fights there. And it’s a venue he calls home in a career which has taken him from Oldham Leisure Centre to the bright lights of the Staples Centre in Los Angeles.

And Crolla, 32, admits that as he walks to the ring at the Manchester Arena for the 14th and final time a week on Saturday to take on Spain’s Frank Urquiaga, roared on by another full house of Mancunians, he will find it difficult to keep his emotions in check.

“I try not to think about it being the last time because then you start to dwell on things emotions can get involved,” he told M.E.N. Sport after the penultimate sparring session of his career. “If I get emotional, I have to get emotional afterwards when I get back to my house.

“In boxing, if you fight on emotions it rarely ends well. I have to keep a cool head until I get back to the changing rooms or back home and then I can get emotional. The ring walk will feel amazing, it always does, it is one of my most favourite things about being a boxer. And it is one of the things I will miss most, the adrenaline, the boost it gives you.

“I have said it before, but I don’t believe there is any drink or drug that could give me that buzz again, so I know I am going to miss that.

“It is a special feeling walking out in front of thousands of people chanting your name. It is something I will always look back at fondly. And especially at this venue, the Manchester Arena.”

Watching Crolla train at Joe Gallagher’s gym in Bolton just 10 days out from the fight, you wouldn’t think this is a man winding down. A long sparring stint, followed by intensive sessions on the heavy bags, speed ball then chin ups and skipping ensures he is the last one in the stable to finish working.

And he admits he will find it difficult to give up the sport he first got hooked on as a 10-year-old.

“I am still in love with boxing and it is hard to let go of something you