AGGRESSION, tenacity and fighting spirit are all qualities to look for when picking the employees of the future.

So digger manufacturer Komatsu knew what it was doing when it took Team GB boxer Josh Kelly onto its latest apprentice scheme.

Mr Kelly, 19, from Sunderland, will study for a three-year apprenticeship at the same time as training with the GB boxing team.

He said: “My aim is to train for the Olympics and to get a job out of the apprenticeship as well.

“Komatsu have been extremely helpful – I don’t think there is another company that would have done the same.”

Mr Kelly trains five days a week with the other seven apprentices at the company’s manufacturing site in Birtley, near Chester-le- Street, but every other week he leaves work on a Wednesday and travels to GB’s training camp to spend four days in the ring.

He said: “I’ve been boxing since the age of seven.

“My dad used to box, but it was mainly through school that I got into it.

“My trainer came down and took me straight to the gym from there. At the start, I just wanted to keep fit, but after a while I noticed I was quite good.

“I won my first fight aged 12. Since then, I’ve had 70 fights and won 62 of them.”

Mr Kelly studied at St Aidan’s Catholic School, in Sunderland, picking ICT and sport for his A-levels.

He applied for the job at Komatsu after hearing it was one of the best apprenticeships around, was given the position, and then he heard back from his Team GB trial.

“It was a nice surprise,”

he said. “I want to do both because the apprenticeship is a really good foundation.

“I spoke to my family and the people at Komatsu and everyone agreed that it was the best thing to do.

“The company even said I could extend my training if I couldn’t keep up, but I want to finish there before I move on anywhere else.

“Hopefully, I can get my name down for the Commonwealth Games, but I’m contracted with the team for four years so the Olympics is the main aim.

“Anything can happen though.”

As Mr Kelly boxes in the light welterweight category – for fighters weighing about ten stone – he does get some banter from the other trainees who tell him he doesn’t look like a boxer, but says they support him.

He said: “My family and the other apprentices have always supported me in everything and that’s really important to me.”