KELVIN Young is set to realise a childhood ambition on Friday night, and Swindon’s latest professional boxer is confident of making a smooth transition to the professional ranks.

The 22-year-old spent more than a decade at local amateur club Penhill, winning a Western Counties Junior ABA title and reaching last year’s senior middleweight final in the process.

Young made the decision to turn full-time last month, signing on with promoter Keith Mayo, and will make his professional debut at “New Day, New Dawn” on Friday at the Oasis Leisure Centre.

And he revealed that he aims to carve a career out of the style which has served him so well since his introduction to the sport at the age of 11.

“Ever since I was a kid it’s always been an ambition to turn professional and try to do well,” Young told the Advertiser.

“I’ve always watched people boxing on television and really wanted to do that.

“In the last couple of years I’ve got back into it properly and over the past year I’ve thought seriously about turning pro.

“With everyone in Swindon doing well, and Keith promoting in Swindon, the time seemed right to give it a go.

“Training-wise, it’s a lot harder. You’ve got to put a lot more hours in and more runs in, but I’m looking forward to that.

“I think my style is quite well suited to the pros and I should settle in quite well. It’s slowed down and you pick your shots more. I’m a boxer, not a scrapper and I intend to show that on December 4.”

Young takes on Rotherham’s Paul Royston over six rounds at “New Day, New Dawn”, and the middleweight is looking forward to debuting in front of his home town crowd.

“I built up quite a big following as an amateur anyway, so it will be good for them to come and watch me and to follow me on as a pro,” he explained.

“When you turn pro you need a good support. You can be a great boxer without a big following and it can take you longer to get anywhere. But if you’ve got a good following then people will want you on their shows.

“Keith is the only promoter in Swindon, and for me as a local lad, to promote myself out of the town was a very important factor – I knew it would be much better for me. He’s got his own gym open and you can see he is very serious about what he does. He’s as serious as I am, so I believe we can do well together.”