By Ian Aldous: It’s been a whirlwind career for Brad Foster (12-0-2) so far. The reigning British and Commonwealth super-bantamweight champion didn’t compete in a single amateur contest, but at just twenty-two years of age, he’s already achieved so much in the paid profession.
His combat sports education started with a dominant background in kickboxing. “I achieved nine world titles and I think, five European and several British and Area ones,” the Midlander told me. “I had my first fight when I was about eleven. I remember holding my breath for the whole of the first round (laughs). I can remember coming back to the corner and I don’t know how I did it, to be fair.”
“I turned pro (boxing) when I was eighteen because there’s not the same rewards in kickboxing. There’s not really any money in it. There’s not really that much competition. I had nine world titles; my dad used to bring people in to try and beat his own son up! I was just knocking them out – so I just went straight into pro boxing. It was a new challenge. I wanted to try it and see if I could get somewhere in the pro sport and so far, so good.”
Just fourteen fights later and Foster has already claimed Midlands, British and Commonwealth titles. He worked his way up on the small-hall circuit before joining up with Hall-Of-Fame promoter, Frank Warren. “People have normally got these mad amateur backgrounds and win the British title so fast (guided by big-money promoters),” he explained. “Whereas, I won the British title away from home against Josh Wale in his home town of Barnsley. Then I got signed by Frank Warren. I’ve not had this chosen path. I’ve had to do it the hard way and I’ve had to take opportunities that weren’t in my favour. Some people don’t realise that and think that I’ve had Frank Warren all the way.”
The fighting pride of Lichfield, a tiny city in Staffordshire, added the Commonwealth belt to his collection via a final-round knockout of Ashley Lane outdoors at the Lamex Stadium, on a Billy Joe Saunders undercard in May 2019. He last fought in February, successfully defending his titles against Lucien Reid in a rematch of their late 2019 majority-draw. It was a hard fight to score and Foster felt he needed to right the wrongs of what was, by his high standards, a poor performance. “I believe, in the first fight, I was burnt out, I was running on empty tanks,” Foster admitted. “After the second round, my legs were gone already and I knew that was because I put too much into training, too much into taking the weight off. I had to run about twenty miles, on the week of the fight, just to get the weight down.”
Second time was the proverbial charm. Foster blitzed Reid and punished him so much that Reid’s corner was forced to pull their charge out at the end of the sixth. He was, justifiably, delighted and retribution was his. “It couldn’t have gone much better in his backyard. Everyone was writing me off. He was doing a lot of talking saying he was going to knock me clean out and all that. He didn’t back it up at the end of the day and I was confident that I weren’t the best in the first fight and I just had to prove everyone wrong and I went in there and smashed him, like I should have done in the first fight, really (laughs).”
The exposure of said rematch taking place as the main-event of an ITV-broadcast fight night, leading into the gargantuan Fury/Wilder 2 PPV, was the icing on the cake. It was a chance for Foster to connect with casual sports fans, those who are unlikely to pay expensive subscriptions to premium sports channels, of which the vast majority of boxing is televised nowadays. “It’s massive exposure. I just work hard and believe in myself. I’ve got no special amateur background and pedigree. I just work hard in the gym and put the graft in. With it being on ITV, they can see someone like me who’s not had an amateur background and that maybe spurs them on to get into something like pro boxing and achieve what I’ve achieved – from nothing.”
He proudly told me of how his grandparents were able to watch him fight this time; such is the exposure of ITV.
Trained by his father, Martin, Brad is keeping himself as busy as possible despite the globe’s current coronavirus crisis. “There’s only so much running you can do. I’ve got a little bag, but it’s just not the same (as) going to the gym,” he said. “Obviously, you can’t do any sparring either. That’s a big part of getting ready and keeping fit. So, all you can do is bag work, running and that’s about it; just basic fitness.”
Away from paid pugilism, Foster works as a personal trainer and also for Tesco, which has become a key job as of late. It’s flexible and allows him to spend as much time at the gym as he needs. He’s already ranked at three with the EBU and is just one successful defence away from winning the prestigious British championship outright. “I only take one fight at a time, to be honest, and my next goal is to win that British (outright) and that’ll be my next fight; another British title defence when it’s back up and running. You never know when that’s going to be. Win that fight and I’ve got the British title for keeps. Then we can look at our options.”