Just Chilling: Crawford Ashley Recalls the Ups and Downs of His Boxing Career

Were it not for his dad, Crawford Ashley may never have found boxing.

As he explained: "At the age of seven, I had to go to the gym three times a week or I couldn’t play out. Because I was mixed race, my dad thought that because of the world we lived in then, I’d have to be able to defend myself."

Neither father nor son could have expected those early trips to be the first step on the road to a career that would include winning the British, Commonwealth and European belts at light heavyweight.

Born in Leeds, England, Ashley discovered more than just a method to defend himself in the gym.

Being in the ring allowed him to feel something different, something new. And, for once in his childhood, he wasn't being told off:

"I realised quickly that it was nice in there [in the ring]. I could be me.

"I got shouted at a lot as a kid, as I always did things wrong. I was always in trouble. However, when I was in the ring, I quickly realised that I didn’t get shouted at if I didn’t get hit.

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"I knew that so long as I wasn’t getting hit, I could do whatever I wanted. I didn’t like getting hit either, so I learned quickly how to get out of the way.

"It was about making them miss, then making them pay.

"I was taught how to ride a punch, how to slip a punch, how to move your feet. We were taught how to put people in corners just with your feet. Balance was important, so too was your defence.

"Boxers now don’t move their feet. Most of them don’t even know how to hold."

Ashley "never" thought he would wind up boxing for a living, even when enjoying success at schoolboy level in the amateurs.

He turned pro in 1987 and won nine of his first 11 by knockout. There were two early defeats, both on points, with the second of them coming against future world champion Johnny Nelson.

Still, he did knock out Carl Thompson—who also went on to win a world title—to put an end to his compatriot's perfect record.

Nelson and Thompson aren't the only two notable names on Ashley's CV.

He lost to Dennis Andries and Virgil Hill—despite knocking the former down and taking the latter the distance—during a career that included more highs than lows.

Ashley—who was nicknamed Chilling—was willing to box anyone, anytime, anywhere.

He recalled: "I’d take fights on short notice on the road. I’d want to take them out and shut their crowd up. Silence, to me, was a compliment."

He had just three weeks to get ready for the first of his three failed attempts to win a world title, as he was booked at short notice in 1993 to face WBA super middleweight champion Michael Nunn in Tennessee:

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"I was told I could have a world-title shot on April 23. This was at the end of March. I said yes, even though I didn’t have a trainer at the time.

"We had to go over to America. They didn’t pick us up to take us to the gym, plus there were no scales. I found it funny that here was a kid from Harehills in Leeds, and yet they were pulling these kind of stunts. They were touting him [Nunn] as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

"I was given short notice and wasn’t even at my weight. I was always a light heavyweight, but I took the fight because I wanted to know how good I was."

At the time, Nunn held a 40-1 record. Only James Toney had beaten him, and that was at middleweight.

With new trainer Bob Paget in his corner, Ashley was aggressive from the outset.

However, he was cut down by the champion's body punches. In Round 5, the challenger was dropped twice. In Round 6, the bout was stopped on the three-knockdown rule, the last of them a left hook in the closing seconds.

Sat in a vegetarian cafe in his home city in Yorkshire, Ashley recalled the night he met Nunn 23 years ago:

"He just wasn’t where I thought he would be. Every moment in that ring, he was where he wanted to be, while I was out of position.

"I needed to understand how he controlled the space, while I couldn’t. He was a very difficult puzzle for me to solve. It was fascinating.

"I met him briefly at the press conference and thought he was arrogant. But after the fight, when I met him at the airport, he was a gentleman.

"I think he realised when I was in the ring with him that I hadn’t come to lie down—I’d come to take his title."

Ashley has no regrets—"If I had my time over again, I’d do it the same"—but is disappointed potential clashes with two of his heroes, Thomas Hearns and Mike McCallum, never materialised.

He prepared on three different occasions to face Hearns but never shared a ring with the legendary Hitman.

After being stopped in 2001 by WBU cruiserweight champion Sebastiaan Rothmann, Rastafarian Ashley knew the time was right to hang up his gloves.

He finished with a 33-10-1 record that included 28 stoppage wins, although he is adamant his 64 per cent knockout ratio, per BoxRec, wasn't simply a matter of hitting hard:

"If a Rolls-Royce hits you at 10 miles per hour, it would knock you over. If a Mini hits you at 80 miles per hour, it will kill you. Speed kills.

"I didn’t punch hard, I punched fast. It just has to be a snap [he flicks out a jab to demonstrate]. Your arm has to lock out. We were taught on the bags not to punch at them but through them."

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Retirement has not been easy for the father of three.

Ashley has attempted to take his own life on "numerous occasions." He pulled up his right sleeve during the interview to reveal the scars from the time he ploughed his motorbike into a barrier.

He does not reflect too often on the past now or worry too much about the future. He is living in the present instead, and presently he's feeling good:

"I’m at peace. I understand more now that boxing gave me peace.

"I wasn’t fighting an opponent in the ring, I was fighting myself. I wanted to improve, wanted to become the best I can be."

There is still has an interest in the sport that made his name, but he isn't too interested in many of the modern fighters. He calls them fighters on purpose, too, believing they are driven by ego rather than having the instinct to survive.

This is when he brings up his acronym B.E.A.T.S (Boxing Excellence And Technical Specialists) and talks passionately about putting on competitive fights for fans in the future.

Ashley has a long-term goal to live self-sufficiently off the land. He dreams of building a bamboo house in the Caribbean.

And yet it doesn't seem he's quite finished with boxing just yet: "I just loved to box. I can’t box now, but I’ve still got it in me."

Rob Lancaster is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise stated