The growing pains and transformation of John Hedges

There was a definite tone of excitement in John Hedges’ voice when the 22-year-old cruiserweight spoke to BoxingScene. An hour or so earlier – and for the first time since his amateur days – he had locked eyes with a man intent on beating him.

Hedges, 9-0 (3 KOs), fights the unbeaten Lewis Oakford, 5-0, for the Southern Area cruiserweight title at the Copper Box Arena on Saturday night (July 6) and after spending the first part of his career ticking boxes and racking up experience against tough journeymen and unambitious imports, he recognized a definite difference in energy when he and Oakford went head-to-head after Thursday’s press conference. 

“I know I’m only 22 but I’ve been in this boxing job a while now and it’s all I’ve ever known,” Hedges said. “You know yourself when someone’s up for it. I see a bit of nervousness in his eyes but I definitely see he’s ready for a fight. He knows he’s in for a test but he knows he’s capable. It’s gonna be good.

“I look at every opponent like it’s my last fight. I train for them all like they are world title fights. With this one, I know he’s going to bring the heat. It’s what we want. We don’t train for easy fights. We’re always in sparring at the deep end. I think it’s a performance where I can stand out. The pressure is off because it’s not that I’ve got to deal with them, it’s more about doing me and just do what I do best. 

“You know when there’s gonna be a clash of styles and someone is gonna make for a good, entertaining fight. The opportunities will open up and it’s just going to be about taking them.”

In 2020, the 6ft 5in tall southpaw turned professional as an 18-year-old super middleweight but a mixture of genetics and the regime of a professional fighter saw him quickly develop into a big light heavyweight.

Hedges battled a hand injury from the early stages of his career and last year he finally resigned himself to undergoing an operation to solve the problem properly. The resulting 10-month lay-off gave him plenty of time to assess his progress and chart a course forward.

He decided to end his days of masquerading as a light heavyweight and commit to a move to the 200lb division. Hedges reappeared in February and looked every inch the genuine cruiserweight as he knocked out Germany’s Erdogan Kadrija with a single well timed, arcing left hook. 

“Things happen for a reason. If anything, it was a blessing because it gave me 10 months to get bigger and put on the right weight gradually,” he said. “Even though I’ve gone up in weight I’ve kept my speed and kept my flair. I didn’t need to make championship weight for my last fight but I told myself I would and use it as a trial run. That’s exactly what I did,” he said.

“The crazy thing is that I still cut weight to make cruiser. I’m actually a big cruiserweight. It shows just how badly I was holding myself back from fulfilling what I was meant to be. It’s done me a world of good. I knew I was never a light heavyweight. Although I was campaigning there, it was always in the back of my head that I knew I wasn’t making championships. To be able to say that I’m now in the division that I’m going to win titles in is nice.”

At some point, almost every fighter will need to fight through the discomfort of a damaged hand but none should come so accustomed to it happening that they walk to the ring expecting to suffer an injury. 

Hedges’ hand became so bad that he even held back from hitting pads in the dressing room before his fights. He would fight with his teeth clenched almost as tightly as his fist and weigh up the potential consequences of letting his hands go before turning his knuckles over. The injury took away some of Hedges’ loose-limbed instinctiveness and prevented him from demonstrating exactly what he was capable of.

The spectacular knockout of Kadrija served two purposes. Firstly, it proved to Hedges that he is more than capable of imposing himself on fully fledged cruiserweights but it also gave him a much needed boost of confidence that his body isn’t going to let him down. 

“Trying to explain it to people was hard because I didn’t really want people to know just what I was going through. Before, I knew that my hand was going to go. It was inevitable. Let’s make sure it doesn’t happen on the pads. Let’s make sure it goes in the ring and make sure I’ve got half a chance,” he said.

“It’s a different mentality to get used to. I had to be so self confident to think, ‘I can beat this geezer with a jab if I had to.’ It’s a mad thing to say but I had to because I was near on certain that it was going to go. 

“Having had the operation, it feels like a fresh start. I can take on real fights, fight real opponents and put everything into it.

“In my last fight, I threw the left hook which knocked him out and if you watch it, I don’t jump into it but I let it go because it was my first back from injury and I was thinking, ‘Should I? Shouldn’t I?’ The reaction forwards was relief. People were asking why I was buzzing so much but it was relief because I feared more about the pain afterwards than the knockdown.”

The cruiserweight division is one of British boxing’s deepest and that means that fighters campaigning at 200lbs don’t need to make any huge leaps of faith on their way to the top. There are attainable targets every step of the way. Hedges is well aware that winning the Southern Area title won’t open the entire division up to him but he also knows that it will set him on exactly the right path. 

“There are so many routes to go. I got asked if I felt the pressure and said that us young fighters are the worst for putting pressure on ourselves. We’ve got to remember that there is no pressure. I’m 22 and in the cruiserweight division. There are so many routes. There’s no pressure. You’ve just got to train hard and I’m a firm believer in that what will be will be. When the time’s right, you’ll come through.”