Living in the very heart of Sherwood Forest so ideally situated to cover promotions in both the Central and Midlands areas, Andy Whittle averages around 70 shows a year, the majority of them small hall, having made his Boxing News debut at the invitation of then-editor Claude Abrams at the now demolished Huddersfield Sports Centre, back in early 2003.

He’s now covered around 1,300 shows at almost 260 different venues. At a very conservative estimate, using six bouts of six rounds per show as a ballpark figure, that’s 7,800 bouts and almost 48,000 rounds.

As can be seen, the figures and stats interest Andy greatly so he’s pleased to still be compiling the annual British rankings for BN though he admits the task was a good deal easier back in the day when there were only half as many pro’s (there are around 1,000 now) and when British boxers were matched far more regularly against other Brits.

On non-boxing weekends he can usually be found either watching speedway somewhere or ticking off another non-league football ground, often both.