By Keir Murray

Thain celebrates his win over Iain Eldridge at Braehead

"He just got really excited," said Terry McCormack. "We'd been working on his power, you see."

The Lochend Boxing Club trainer was explaining the exuberant reaction of his protege John Thain after his knock-out win over Iain Eldridge at Braehead Arena.

Thain was engaging in only his third professional fight and had finished the man from Watford with sinister ease - a left to the body followed by a left to the chin.

A sporting Eldridge applauded the 23-year-old from Edinburgh when the referee completed the formalities by raising Thain's arm as the knock-out was made official.

McCormack continued: "John was a good amateur boxer but we knew he had to add to his power to make it is a professional.

"People used to say to him 'you'll not make it in the pro game, you're too nice a guy, you don't have the aggression'.

"Well, he is one of the hardest trainers I have ever known and he has set about increasing his power with great enthusiasm.

"We got him doing bench weights, working on the 20kg medicine ball, throwing it against the wall 10 reps at a time.

"So when he celebrated winning the bout against Eldridge it was because all his hard work had paid off."

Some boxers have the look of a killer. Thain, though, has killer looks. This young man stands out from the crowd. Tall, half-Filipino and with a flashing white smile, he could be fronting a boy band.

Instead, his focus is boxing and his place of work is a converted Scout hut in Edinburgh where McCormack has gathered some of Scotland's best fighters, such as Gary McMillan, Paul Appleby, Alex Arthur and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Josh Taylor.

Thain's work ethic has impressed trainer Terry McCormack

"I'm in the gym from Monday to Friday, sometimes on Saturday," said the impeccably-mannered Thain.

"I spar two or three times a week and do strength work one day a week. When we spar one day, we have the next day off from doing that.

"In between we work on the mitts. That's where Terry shows his strength as a trainer, teaching us lots of combinations. He is just like Freddie Roach in that respect.

"The gym is great. There are keep-fitters at night, lots of people of different ability. It's quite a competitive place, the sparring is never easy."

Thain was 14 when he had his first amateur bout, back in 2002, and had about 60 bouts in the unpaid ranks.

He turned pro last year and in his first two fights beat Kevin McCauley and Paddy Pollock, both on points.

"I wasn't so good at the start but I kept working hard and I got better as I got older," said Thain.

"I discovered what it takes to win. I wasn't so scared any more.

"I owe everything to Terry. He gives me so much of his time.

"Before I started working with him no-one thought I could make it. He knows how to develop people."

His bout against Eldridge was at light-middleweight, the heaviest division he has fought at to date, but McCormack describes the six-footer, who fought as a featherweight five years ago, as a "massive welterweight".

Looking back on the bout and his Muhammad Ali-inspired rejoicing, Thain said: "I had said to my pals that if I won with a knock-out I'd really celebrate.

"I like to entertain the boxing fans, to put on a show.

"Funnily enough I wasn't that sure how I had knocked him out. I went for the body with a left hook and then to the head with another left.

"I watched the tape - it was the one to the head that put him down.

"Boxing is my life. I did reasonably well at school but I don't know what I would do without boxing. It means everything to me.

"It can be really hard work but it makes it so much easier when you enjoy it. We're all like brothers in the gym. I love it."

McCormack is delighted at the commitment that Thain shows to the sport.

"He trains so hard," he said. "He is a real throwback. He just lives for the game.

"John's the type of guy that if he could sleep in the gym to improve, he would do it. It's his life.

"He doesn't have a girlfriend. He is just too committed to boxing to have time for one.

"He was back in the gym on the Monday after his fight on the Saturday against Eldridge.

McCormack consoles Paul Appleby after his defeat by Joseph Laryea

"The fight before that I had to make him take a week off.

"I am happy to give him the time because I trust him to make the most of his ability."

An occasional visitor to the Lochend club is former world lightweight champion Ken Buchanan, who enjoys stepping in to the ring for a spot of shadow boxing.

"I grew up not far from him and I have always looked up to him. He achieved so much in the sport. It's fantastic to watch him at the club and listen to his boxing advice," said Thain.

"He complimented me after one of my fights and it meant so much because it came from him."

Thain had the chance to rub shoulders with other greats when McCormack took him, Taylor, McMillan and Steven Tiffany to Roach's Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles last year.

"It was a terrific experience. The sparring there is like a real fight, the boxers are so hungry to make it there," said Thain.

"We got to watch Manny Pacquiao preparing for one of his bouts. Being half-Filipino on my mother's side, it really was wonderful."

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