Bushey boxer Kola Koyejo announced his arrival among the sport’s professional ranks with a devastating first round knockout against Tsvetozar Iliev at York Hall last Saturday.

The Bulgarian folded like a napkin after Koyejo caught him with an unstoppable right hook that showed just how much potential the 23-year-old has to offer and, with his next fight just a couple of months away, it might not be long before he starts to make something of a name for himself.

Following the fight, Koyejo said he just wanted to get back in the ring again on what was the best day of his life.

“Everyone said when you have your debut it’s the best day of your life and honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever felt like that before,” he said.

“As soon as I boxed, I actually wanted to go again 20 minutes later. I just thought, ‘I’d love to do that again’.

“I can’t stress enough how amazing it was. As soon as I came out from behind the curtain, I just heard all my friends and family. That was the bit I actually loved the most, hearing everyone. The roar - it’s a feeling you can’t buy.

“It was just a beautiful day and I just want to keep on repeating that.”

Despite his obvious thirst for success, Koyejo has not always been so focused on sporting accolades.

As a self-confessed lazy adolescent, he was far more worried about achieving high scores on video games than becoming an athlete, but his life changed forever when his dad sent him to a boxing gym, aged just 13.

“I used to like Fight Night, the boxing video games, but apart from that, no way did I like sport.

“I was just a big, chubby kid and in sports day they had to beg me to do tug of war - I hated all sorts of sports.

“I was just messing around, being lazy. All I used to do was play Playstation. I would wake up and play Playstation from 9am until 9pm and one summer holiday, my dad just said, ‘that’s enough, you’re going to boxing’.

“I walked in the gym and loved it ever since. From the first day I went I haven’t looked back - something just clicked.

“The coach I had at the time said I had talent and, to be honest, that’s the first time I’d ever heard someone say that about me and sport. Before, all I was good at was Playstation. Since then, that was it.”

While he may only be one fight into his professional career, the light heavyweight has his sights set on a glittering career that exceeds even the achievements of his fellow Watford-based boxers, including Anthony Joshua.

However, he remains realistic about his near future, but still hopes his recent experiences will push him all the way to greatness, as well as seeing other local heroes rising through the boxing ranks.

“As much as there’s taking each fight as it comes, I believe you have to have goals that you want to hit or reach, or you don’t know if you’re progressing or not,” he said.

“My next fight is going to be a six rounder. Usually, when people have their first pro-fights, the first four or five are four rounders, but by the fifth fight, I want to be fighting for the Southern Area title and I believe that’s easily achievable.

“I want to exceed what he’s [Joshua] achieved, but if I ever came close, that’s still something so amazing. If you aim for the stars, you might hit the moon.

“There’s a few boxers come out of Watford and it’s nice. I’m not one to envy, I don’t get jealous, it just motivates me, so when I see boxers from Watford getting big, I just think ‘one day, put in the work and you will be in the same position’.

“A lot of boxers say train hard, fight easy and I trained the hardest I’ve ever trained for this fight and it was so fun.

“If I can just train hard again and get that same feeling, I don’t see why I wouldn’t train hard.

“I can’t wait to get back to the gym - I want that feeling over and over and over again. It’s unbeatable.”