Callum Rodriguez was an amateur boxer in his teens who trained in the same gym as the world champion heavyweight before he moved full-time into racing
A jockey who trained alongside Tyson Fury in the boxing gym struck the knockout blow on the second day of York’s Dante meeting.
Callum Rodriguuez, 27, who is from Lancaster, won schoolboy titles and fought at national level before switching careers.
Fury, who is from Morecambe, used to train in the same ring as Rodriguez, who banged out another winner on the track where he announced himself by landing the Ebor Handicap when still an apprentice in 2017.
He made all the running on 6-1 chance Point Lynas to win the Hambleton Stakes and then confirmed he will be rooting for Fury in his world title fight with Oleksandr Usyk this weekend.
“I’ll be shouting for him,” he told ITV Racing. “It’s a great fight and I am really looking forward to it.” Rodriguez has ridden 380 winners of more than £4 million in prize-money and is now an established figure on the circuit in the north of England.
He talked about his boxing roots recently and the big fight in an interview on the Attheraces TikTok account.
“I was young when I started and I kind of went all the way through school and high school boxing,” he said. “I had quite a decent career, I had a good number of fights.
“I think I was three-time North West junior champion and twice senior North West champion. I got to an elite ABA finals.
“I was very, very lucky as a child. Tyson Fury was there. He used to come into the gym quite a bit. To be able to say I’ve trained in the same gym as an absolute mega star like him. It’s good.
“We are all little tiny kids and Tyson had not long turned professional. We would be training doing our session and Tyson would usually come in towards the end of the sessions and he’d maybe hit the bag a little bit.
“We used to get to have a chat with him and there was always lots of photoshoots. He’s an inspiration to so many people.
“For a start he is just so talented. As a boxer his ring IQ is exceptional, but there are all the things he has had to go through outside the ring as well. He’s had a battle with depression.”
Fury meets Ukrainian Usyk in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, where the winner will be crowned undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Rodriguez said: “My heart is with Tyson. I want him to win. I want him to do it in good style but, make no mistake, Usyk is an absolute superstar, as is Tyson.
“Boxing fans are the winners really, getting to see a fight of such quality.The size difference could probably tell in the later rounds and I am going to back Tyson to win on points.”
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Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are set to lock horns in a huge bout on May 18 with each fighter attempting to etch their name in boxing history as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999. The stakes couldn’t be higher as the pair will go head to head for the prestigious WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF titles.