DAVID ADELEYE is building back his heavyweight career – after leaving behind plans to be an ARCHITECT before boxing.
Adeleye first picked up the gloves at 12 but only three years later did he begin competing seriously as an amateur.
He would later win national titles before turning professional in 2019 having also studied business management at the University of Wolverhampton.
And Adeleye, 28, told The Ring Magazine: “I wanted to be an architect when I was younger.
“I look at buildings and I'm intrigued about how they're made, who made it, who came up with the ideas.
“You've got to have some sort of adventurous mind to be an architect. I think I'm an adventurous person and a creative person.”
Adeleye rushed to 12-0 and also became known as a sparring partner to the stars, including and .
The Londoner was such a regular in Fury's Morecambe camp that he even got
Fury also sung his praises, once saying: “David Adeleye is the future of this division.
“I told him the other night in the changing rooms, I said, ‘You’ve got believe in yourself Dave, because you’re going to take over the division, mate.'
“And he’s great sparring, very very good sparring. If he was no good to me, then I wouldn’t bring him into my training camps.”
Adeleye suffered his first defeat in October 2023 following a brutal knockout loss to Fabio Wardley.
But he bounced back with victory ten months later with an equally savage first-round stoppage of Solomon Dacres in December.
Adeleye won the English title that night and now fights for the British belt against ex-sparring partner Jeamie Tshikeva –
The bout lands on the undercard of Joe Joyce's headline bout
Adeleye warned: “No judges needed. That W's coming home with me and so is the British title.
“When I let these hands go, everyone knows about it. I'm an aggressive person. They're all going to know about it. Trust me.”
Adeleye – who has 12 KOs in his 13 wins – graduated with a degreeand even did a dissertation on the business aspect of boxing.
And he said: “I still kind of want to do [architecture], maybe.
“One of my teachers disheartened me by telling me how long the course was at university and it was a long process and whatnot.
“Maybe one day, you never know.”
