With every bout footballer-turned-boxer Francis Jones is busy proving people wrong.
And he continues his ascent in the fight game with his sixth professional bout in his hometown of Darlington next week.
The 22-year-old highly-rated welterweight has enjoyed four wins and a draw since turning pro last year, three years after being rejected by Hartlepool United.
On his release Pool said he was a 'training player', that he failed to turn on the style on a matchday despite being more than good enough during the week in training.
They doubted whether he was able to focus properly, but by switching to boxing Jones has defiantly banished those doubts and is now confidentially looking ahead to his making a big impression in front of his own fans.
That chance comes next Friday at the Dolphin Centre on the same bill as fellow Darlington fighters, Oscar Hall and Argie Ward, and like Ward, it will be his home debut as a professional.
But a debut as a professional footballer is something he never managed before being released by Pool in 1999 after two years in the youth ranks where he was a pacy left-winger.
Playing in the same Victoria Park youth team as Mark Robinson and Adam Boyd who have since progressed to the Pool first-team, Jones was shown the exit door by then youth coach, Billy Horner, and Pool boss Chris Turner who had only recently taken charge.
He blames his failure to make the breakthrough on not being able to focus during matches. He explained: "All my life playing football was al I wanted to do, every night I'd play. But it was nerves that put an end to it. During the matches you'd have people there watching you and you were playing for a contact, so it was a nerve-wracking for all of us.
"It sounds ridiculous now but, even though I could do all sorts of tricks, sometimes, because of the nerves, I couldn't control a pass from two metres away!
"They sat me down at the end of my YTS and told me I was a 'training player'. I thought, if I'm a training player, then I'll end up being the same in boxing - but I've learned mentally how to prepare myself better so now, through boxing I'm proving people wrong."
Hardly lacking in the confidence every sportsman needs - ring masters especially - Jones has plenty of faith in his own ability and three years after being rejected by Pool still believes he could make it as a footballer, but those dreams have long since been forgotten.
"I know it sounds a bit poor saying I got released by Hartlepool who were near the bottom of the League at the time, but there was no way I should've been released," he says. "If I got back into football now I could easily get picked up again by a professional club, but boxing is more important to me now.
"It's up to me how well I do. In football you can point the finger at other lads in the team but in boxing you've only got yourself to blame."
Disillusioned with football, after a spell with Tow Law in the Northern League, ambitious Jones turned his back on the game a year later and channelled his natural sporting prowess into amateur boxing where he had just 17 bouts before turning pro.
"It was quite a dramatic leap," he admits. "I was put in with the Commonwealth silver-medalist after only four fights and I only lost by a couple of points so I didn't get many easy fights after that. In some of the fights I was knocking fighters out in the first or second round."
His record since turning pro, says Jones, should read five fights and five wins, but a controversial draw against a Sunderland fighter on Wearside, slightly blemishes his statistics but that isn't enough to knock Jones' firm belief that he posses enough ability to win titles as a boxer.
Alongside Hall and Ward, Jones has returned to Hartlepool where he trains under the eye of Neil Fannan at Hartlepool Boxing Club which boasts WBF super-bantamweight No 1 Michael Hunter among its stablemates.
Fannon has genuine faith in Jones, saying: "In my gym I have a gym of winners, I wouldn't have him in there if he wasn't a winner.
"He's a very talented lad."
Hunter is now one of the leading lights in North-East sport and Jones is eyeing a slice of the glory his stablemate now revels in: "I'm ambitious, I want to get to the top and I can get to the top. Without wanting to sound too big-headed, I'm glad that I've been given this ability."
However, a more immediate concern is next Friday's bout which sees Jones paired with Sheffield-based Neil Cummings whose impressive record reads four KOs and one defeat on points - given Jones' talent, an explosive bout is likely.
As Cummings comes from the gym where Prince Naseem Hamed learned his ring craft, Jones is expecting some gamesmanship. "At the Sheffield gym where this fighter is from they all have their arms by their sides and act a bit cocky, so I'll just have to keep my composure," said Jones.
"This will be hardest one so far, I'm up against a puncher and he's knocked quite a few people out but it doesn't faze me one bit because on July 11 I will be victorious.
"Preparation has been going well. Training three times a day every day is demanding but it pays off when you're in the ring.
"When I'm running during training I always think about the fighter I'm going to fight so when it comes to the night I'm ready for it, I'll be 100 per cent focused. I can't wait to be honest.
"I have had some trouble with my hand, but on the night when the adrenaline is pumping it'll be alright. You'll see for yourself when I KO the lad."
* Organisers are expecting a large crowd so fans are advised to get their ticket as soon as possible for the evening, which is being sponsored by SG Petch. For tickets contact Francis Jones on 0779 1620 534 or the Dolphin Centre. They cost £20 or £30 for a table at ringside.
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