JORDAN Flynn is fighting fit after a testing year and is embarking on his biggest challenge yet – a professional career.

The Cowley boxer has not long returned to the ring following 12 months away from the sport due to health reasons.

But Flynn, whose second fight back ended in defeat at the England Championships last month, feels the time is right

to step up from the amateur scene.

The three-time national champion has signed a professional deal with Wasserman, who manage the likes of George Groves and Conor Benn.

A trainer and promoter will be announced in the coming months, but for now Flynn is excited for his next chapter.

He said: “I’ve achieved a lot as an amateur, winning multiple national titles and boxed for England many times from schoolboy to senior level.

“But now is the right time for me to take things to the next level and to chase my dream of becoming a world champion.

“It’s not going to be easy, but I’m willing to give up my whole life to make my dream become a reality.”

The lightweight added: “All the years of hard work from starting boxing at eight years old, travelling to London and back four days a week from 15 to make myself a better fighter comes down to this.

“This is a very proud moment for me, my family and friends that believe in me.

“I look forward to what the future holds and putting Oxford on the map.”

The 23-year-old is back enjoying his boxing after taking time off with vertigo.

Flynn had been suffering with it since 2016 with experts putting it down to an infection in his right ear.

Despite regularly feeling dizzy and off balance, the former Hoddesdon ABC, Hertfordshire, boxer, continued to enter the ring, before deciding he needed to take time off.

“It was getting worse and I was finding it hard to box,” he said.

“Every time I started to spar and getting up to go to the gym, it just wasn’t enjoyable.

“I not only found fighting hard, but I felt like I was fighting against myself.

“I took time off to sort myself out, got proper physiotherapy for it and saw mind coaches.”

Flynn added: “I was doing balance exercises, loads of different things. It was a long and slow process.

“One day would be worse than the other.

“The exercises didn’t consistently help me get better, but it just sorted itself out in the end.

“I feel back to my normal self now.

“I always knew I was going to go back to boxing. I was never going to give it up and I just had to get better.”

A quarter-final exit in the national championships in Nottingham on April 6 was not the end Flynn wanted to his amateur career.

He suffered a cut under his eyebrow after an accidental clash of heads with Hunslet’s Jake Leeming in the under 60kg bout and was not allowed to continue.

“I was so unlucky,” he said. “They took it to the neutral corner, it was a bit unfair.

“It was unfortunate, I was confident of winning the national championships.”