After fifty-five fights as an amateur, Alan Higgins has made a bright start to life in the professional ranks, bursting onto the domestic middleweight scene by dispatching his first three opponents inside the first two rounds. He moved to 4-0 with 3 knockouts by outpointing the seasoned Jason Ball in February and was in action for his fifth pro fight on March 15th. Boxing Mad Mag was lucky enough to catch up with Higgins in the build-up to his latest encounter.
Here, the 24-year-old from Kentish Town discusses his plans and aspirations with Jack Sumner and also talks snooker playing aliases, Rocky music and having a qualified trade . . .
Hi Alan, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today and answer our questions for Boxing Mad Magazine. I think an obvious place to begin would be at what age did you start boxing? And what was it that first got you to go down to the gym?
I was 13 and a friend of mine had started boxing so I decided to go along with him. I joined St. Pancras Amateur Boxing Club in Kentish Town and it carried on from there.
Did you have a favourite fighter growing up?
Yea, it would have to be Ricky Hatton.
You have the nickname ‘Avalanche’ Higgins. Where did you get that name?
People were actually trying to get me to have Hurricane Higgins (after snooker player Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins who shot to fame in the seventies) but of course that wouldn’t have been original, so I went with Avalanche in the end! It’s got the ‘A’ to go with my first name as well, so it kind of fit!
It’s got a ring to it! You had an impressive amateur career before turning pro and beat some good names in the unpaid ranks, including Frank Buglioni and John Ryder. Are both of those guys’ fights that you would like to have further down the line as a professional?
Probably not Buglioni as he’s at a higher weight, but Ryder could definitely be a fight in the future and right now we’re both unbeaten.
Would you not consider a move up to super middleweight at some point, with your height and frame?
I don’t think I will, as I’m very comfortable at making middleweight.
Thinking domestically, if you could fight anybody in the middleweight division right now, who would you love to fight?
Anybody who’s got the titles, because that’s what I’m going for. If I carry on progressing the way I am then in around eighteen months time I’d like to be fighting for the British title.
with Jack Sumner