Doncaster farmer Edward Hardy, 22, who trains in Sheffield swaps hay bales for haymakers in pro boxing debut

A Doncaster farmer is preparing to swap hay bales for haymakers after becoming a professional boxer.

Now, he hopes to mow down his opponent when he makes his professional debut in September.

Super-bantamweight Edward, who works his family's Marr Grange Farm, near Doncaster, South Yorks., said: "I’m in a lucky position where I’ve got the farm as well as boxing.

"So I have always got that job there, working on the farm, helping out and things.

“I just think while I’m young, I’ve got to try and get as far as I can and do as well as I can - and then carry on farming after.”

Edward was just eight when he started boxing at his local gym before taking on his first amateur bout three years later.

Nicknamed ‘The Farm Boy’, has since been crowned a two-time national amateur champion and has also won the Celtic Box Cup belt in Ireland.

Edward, who will make his debut at in nearby Sheffield, works out using makeshift training equipment including old tyres and a pull-up bar in a shed.

He also trains daily at Sheffield's Steel City Gym and said his work helps keep him in shape.

Edward added: “I’m still working at home full time and training as well.

"But I have a couple of hours off each day to go to the gym and then I just catch up on my work when I get back.

“We’ve also got a pull-up bar in one of the sheds, a rope hanging from one of the rooves for a rope climb and a couple of boxing bags knocking about - just to do a bit of training."

Edward said he had got into boxing by watching bouts from a young age on the TV with his dad, James Hardy, who is an avid fan.

He had initially snapped up a chance to train at his local gym, before later breaking into the England Boxing squad at around 15.

He said: “I used to watch it on the tele with my dad when I was younger, and then we just passed the sign for the local boxing club and I said, ‘Can I go there?’

“He took me and then we never left, we kept going.

“When I first got into the nationals and things, and we started doing well, and I thought, ‘This is for me, I’m enjoying this’.”

Edward has since travelled all over Britain for bouts, while also fighting opponents in both Germany and Ireland.

And he has even beaten former WBA welterweight and lightweight champion Ricky Hatton’s son, Campbell Hatton, in an amateur fight.

He said: “I ended up going to Germany and boxing against the German national champion about two years ago.

“It was like a dual, England versus Germany, and I beat the German national champion over there for England.

“Another one, which was another good trip, was when I went to Ireland to Dungarvan, to the Celtic Box Cup.

“I had two good fights over there against the Irish national champion, and then another really good English lad was in the final.

“It was a good bout and I beat him, so I came back Celtic Box Cup champion. I had the belt on the plane, that saved me getting it creased or broken in the baggage.”

He added: “I beat Campbell Hatton in the amateurs, too. It was in the nationals. “Ricky Hatton was there, Matthew Hatton, all their fans and things.

“I boxed Campbell and beat him unanimously. That was a good bout. After, I had a word with Ricky and Matthew and things were all really good.”

Edward has to plan his training around his farm work, which can leave him working late into the evening.

He said: “We wake up in the morning and check all the animals and things like that. With it being summertime, we’re harvesting all the crops at the moment.

“So we’ll be combining that and then I’ll be going training at 12 or 1pm, and then I’ll come back, take over and carry on from my dad.

“Sometimes you can finish at 10pm or 11pm, it all depends on the moisture of the crop, really.”

Edward said the fight’s promoters, GBM, had not confirmed who he would be taking on in the bout on September 27 but felt ready for all-comers.

He said: “I don’t know who my opponent is yet, so we’ll just have to wait and see. But because it’s my debut I don’t know who they’ll get for me.

But whoever comes, once we get a name, we’ll look at them and see what we need to do.”