Crolla bids to end on a high
ANTHONY CROLLA will bid an emotional farewell to boxing at Manchester Arena on Saturday.
The 32-year-old former WBA world lightweight champion takes on Spaniard Frank Urquiaga on the same stage he made his professional debut 13 years ago and took the world crown in 2015.
He said: “It’s going to be very difficult not to let emotion get the better of me but I just have to have the mental strength to treat it like any other fight.
“The next fight is the most important of your career because it then sets up what’s next.
“And while there isn’t a next fight for me, there is still a massive importance to it because I want to go out on a high.
“I’m expected to win. However, he’s no mug and I know I have to be at my best. He knows if he beats me he crashes the world rankings.”
The pinnacle of Crolla’s career was obviously the night he beat Darleys Perez to win the world title after their first fight ended in a draw. He added:
“Winning the world title was obviously a highlight, but defending it for the first time against Ismael Barroso was special as well.
“I wasn’t expected to win. I walked into the Manchester Arena a world champion and walked out of the Manchester Arena a world champion.
“The other highlight was beating Gavin
Rees. I was in the away corner and that win allowed me to have a contract with Matchroom Boxing.
“It allowed me to get a deposit for my house, my little boy was due a month later. You never know but that might have been the difference between me being a full-time professional or not.
“There’s nothing I would change about my career. There are things I wish hadn’t happened but everything happens for a reason.”
Crolla suffered a fractured skull and broke an ankle in two places after confronting burglars in 2014.
He said: “I did worry that might be the only thing I would be remembered for. Hopefully now I will always be remembered as a world champion.”