For Thomas Whittaker-Hart, the road to his first crack at title gold has been long and winding.
The former England and Team GB man has been to hell and back over the past two years as he battled a number of different illnesses which left his boxing career hanging by a thread at one point. First came meningitis, then Whittaker-Hart was struck down by pneumonia, which eventually led to him having an operation on his lung after a cyst was discovered.
At one point, the former Archbishop Beck student was warned he might never fight again, but that was the least of the 27-year-old’s problems, who was also told he faced the prospect of losing one of his lungs.
