PADDY Fitzpatrick will be the proudest man in London on Saturday night as Luke Watkins makes his professional debut.

The Swindon cruiserweight will make his first outing in the paid ranks on the undercard of his manager George Groves’ European super-middleweight title clash with Christopher Rebrasse at Wembley Arena.

And for Fitzpatrick, who is guiding both boxers, he knows just how far Watkins has come since he walked into his Ferndale Road gym.

“I’m at my happiest now than I have ever been,” Fitzpatrick, who will also see another of his amateurs Garvey Kelly turn professional this autumn, told the Advertiser.

“I have been very blessed to have worked with a lot of talented fighters, but these (Watkins and Kelly) are mine, these are my seeds.

“They have been with me since they have first put on a glove.

“To get the measure of a coach you see what he can do from scratch as opposed to taking on a fighter that is already developed and polished.

“This is nice, it is the very beginning of a journey, we have a long way to go, but I feel really good right now.”

Despite the happiness and pride in seeing Watkins, and Kelly, grow into the boxers and men they are today, Fitzpatrick says that he won’t have any extra nerves when that bell goes on Saturday night.

“No, it is a fight game,” he explained.

“When I tell people that I don’t get emotionally involved in fights and I don’t get excited in fights, that is not me saying that I don’t care about it, but I’d be of no use to a fighter if I let my emotions get the better of me.

“He is going to come back for direction and all he is going to get to feed off me is nerves or excitement, I have to be matter of fact.

“I have to be able to tell them, this is what you need to do, this is how you need to do it.

“It doesn’t make me more nervous it just makes me excited.”