The change of fate was overdue Woodall’s Steed.

Last year, his mother had a heart attack and then COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). Believing she was on the verge of losing her life, depression affected her son, who was also going through a breakup with his daughter’s mother.

Having taken fights with some of the UK’s top 10 super-middleweights and airy heavyweights, only to see them fall tiny, Woodall struggled and defied the odds. With bills to pay and a two-year-old daughter to look after – splitting the responsibility 50-50 with her mother – the Birmingham boxer began to hate boxing, and retirement often crossed his mind.

Then, on June 14, the breakthrough finally came. After withdrawing in April due to injury, Woodall was given another chance to face former British, Commonwealth and European super middleweight champion Lerrone Richards.

Another loss and who knew when Woodhall would get another chance. But on this night, everything fell into place for the 31-year-old, who stopped and stunned the recently world-class contender in the sixth round with an overwhelming determination, willing to do whatever it took to win.

“Some people say they are willing to give it their all,” Woodall said. Boxing News. “[But] I was glad they took me out on a stretcher. I know it sounds stupid, but after everything I’ve been through, and just being there that night, taking that belt [WBO Inter-Continental] to my daughter’s house, it meant so much to me. I was going to put it all on one card.”

The joyful ending continued as Woodall’s mother was present at the Bolton Whites Hotel to watch her son triumph. After falling to his knees in victory, brimming with emotion, Woodall had one more thing to do.

“When I got out of the ring, the first thing I did was put the belt on my mum,” the Birmingham man said.

“I was joyful to win the fight, but it wasn’t a surprise or a shock or anything like that. I knew in my head that it was going to happen. I had no doubts about the outcome or whether I could do it. I had known for a long time that I could beat a fighter of that caliber.”

Friday passed, and Woodall had the weekend off to enjoy his victory with his family. Monday came, and Woodall picked up his tools and went back to work at the flooring company he started a few years ago.

“I install demanding floors and I install bedrooms,” he said. “Everybody has bills to pay and I had a demanding time with boxing, getting the right opportunities and without the backing of a top promoter, you have no power in terms of how much you get paid. There are inconsistencies, you have fights on tiny notice and things like that.”

Woodall will now have to wait and see what happens next though. Almost six weeks on from Steed’s victory, ‘The Stallion’ is still demanding at work with training team Paul Counihan and his son Louie, while manager Jon Pegg is keeping his ear to the ground as he awaits his next fight.

On July 11, Woodall used his Instagram platform to criticize rising super middleweight stars Diego Pacheco, Edgar Berlanga and current European 168-pound champion Kévin Lele Sadjo.

“Sadjo received an offer [before the Richards fight] but it didn’t work out because I wasn’t ranked high enough,” Woodall revealed.

If Woodall were to be offered a fight in America, however, it would not be strange territory for the Briton, who made his professional debut in the United States in 2014 and has fought there 11 times since, with five fights in the Dominican Republic. The story begins at the end of his amateur career, at the age of 18, after a fight at the World Championships in Armenia.

“I was ranked No. 5 in the world. I beat No. 2 in the world. And my ultimate goal was to get into the British team and train for the Olympics. From the age of 16 until the end I was assessed quite regularly but the British team didn’t give me a place.

“Even after the World Championships I was considered an unlucky loser. Even the coaches who were in my corner at GB said I should have won the fight against the eventual world champion. So I thought I’d definitely be in the squad now. And then they said ‘maybe next year’ again.

“I knew a friend of mine was in America. He put me in touch with a manager who was into boxing. He had Peter ‘Kid Chocolate’ Quillin when he was world champion. He weighed the same, so he was someone I was following.

“I flew down there for a few weeks. I had some great friendlies. He was impressed with what he saw and offered me a contract. After the first week of the two weeks there, it was a really large, tough decision to make. I’m a real family man and I’m closest to all my family and being on the other side of the world, it’s not like you’re in Spain. It’s a nine-hour flight, so to get up and leave your family and only see them once a year… I remember thinking to myself, I’m a man now. But when I look back and think about what I was like when I was 19, I think, no, I wasn’t a man.

“I had to experience a lot. Of course, I’m glad I was brave enough to make the decision. It gave me a lot of qualities that I bring with me to the ring. In terms of mental strength, mental toughness and things like that.”

“I was in Miami for a year and a half at first,” he continued. “And then I spent a year and a half in Houston, Texas, under Ronnie Shields. And then I went back to Miami for another six months. And then the fighting really started to tardy down for me. I decided to go back to England. I was really unlucky. I slipped in the snow and broke my leg. A freak accident. It took me a year. It took me a long time to get back into training. For a long time I thought my career was over.”

Woodall put on the gloves in Recent York (at the tempting BB King Blues Club & Grill), lost to Gennady Golovkin’s former opponent Steve Rolls in Houston, raised his hand in victory at the World Gym Arena in Texas City and picked up his first win just before the end at Club Maquiteria in the Dominican capital of Santa Domingo.

“The main fight I had in Houston was the one I lost to Steve Rolls. And that was the biggest lesson of my career,” said Woodall (19-2-1, 12 KOs).

“It’s not an excuse, but in the lead-up to the fight, I hadn’t seen my family in over a year. It was the first time my family had seen me as a professional, because they flew me in. I was training for a left-handed opponent. That was changed at the last minute. It was my first time making the middleweight limit, and I had a really bad weight cut. Everything that could go wrong in that fight did.

“I was at the top of the scorecards. I had the Rolls at the bottom in the third round. I had a punctured eardrum in the fourth round. I just couldn’t shake it off and get through the round. I guess if I had to paraphrase it, I would call it a learning curve.”

The Dominican Republic chose less favorable conditions, and an extraordinary crowd gathered in the ring.

“I would say the ghetto. I remember getting there and during some of the fighting, there were chickens running around. There were a lot of homeless kids looking for something. I gave them what I had. It was honestly a surreal experience.

“Two fights, no weigh-ins. I think that was my last fight in the Dominican Republic. I had no idea who I was fighting. I got in the ring and saw a guy walking towards him. He must have weighed like 200 pounds. I’m not kidding. He’s on my Instagram. I actually stopped him in the fourth round, and it was supposed to be an eight-round fight.”

Yet, having been a professional boxer for over 10 years and boxing in five different countries, Steed Woodall’s career is only just getting started.