Boxing is full of unique personalities and fascinating stories.

At the end of a week, we are regularly left with unused quotes that don’t quite fit into a main feature and aren’t really big enough to justify standalone stories, but are still interesting, funny or informative.

Ahead of a busy weekend in British boxing, here are a few final shots.

Heavyweight prospect Leo Atang (5-0, 5 KO’s) continues his young professional career this weekend. The 19-year-old from York will fight Khazakhstan’s Viktar Chvarkou (6-32, 3 KOs) on the Ben Whittaker-Braian Suarez undercard at M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

Unless something goes monumentally wrong, Atang will extend his unbeaten run.

For the time being, the teenager’s fight nights are about getting used to routines, handling nerves and performing under live fire, rather than getting involved in 50-50 tests. The vast majority of Atang’s learning is being done in the gym and the teenager has been furthering his education by sparring some of the division’s bigger names.

Standing 6-feet-5 and creeping up towards the 245-pound mark, the 2024 World Boxing Under-19 champion has the physical gifts to become a major factor in the division.

Elite heavyweights have a certain presence and are usually extremely comfortable in their own skin. Spending time around big characters and accomplished heavyweights is helping Atang’s own self-confidence.

“Boxing-wise, the second I’m in the ring I can be myself,” Atang told The Ring. “I’m not going to start rushing over to someone like I’ve known them for 20 years – that’s just not me as a person. But obviously, you respect them.

“You know what they’ve done. You admire what they’ve done. You almost want to learn from them after the sparring and ask them questions and all that. Once I’m actually in the ring, you should do your thing.”

It would be fair to say that Molly McCann (3-0, 1 KO) has had a solid but unspectacular start to her professional boxing career.

The former UFC star fights for the fourth time Saturday night, when she boxes Ashleigh James (3-3) over eight rounds on the Whittaker-Suarez undercard. As part of the drive to make McCann an effective professional, the team at No Limits Gym have been working hard to make her a more efficient fighter.

McCann is naturally left-handed, but she regularly switched stances. By cutting back on her switch hitting and working in phases rather than chasing a finish, the 35-year-old Liverpudlian should begin to set up and create more openings.

McCann has also been working on the defensive side of her game.

“For this camp it’s been a lot of footwork and a lot of head movement,” McCann told The Ring. “I think in MMA the number one defense is just stepping out the way and in boxing foot defense is negative defense. Can you just move your head? Can you move? Can you catch it on the glove? Can you move your torso? It’s chaining that together.”

Once an extremely talented amateur, Aston Brown (9-1, 4 KOs) lost his way. The Glaswegian spent years battling drug addiction and spent time in prison before attempting to relaunch his career.

Now 35 years old and in a much better place, the middleweight got a belated chance to make a big impression when he boxed Sam Gilley in Brown’s hometown of Glasgow on Friday night. London’s Gilley stopped Brown in the fifth round on the undercard of the Nathaniel Collins-Cristobal Lorente rematch at OVO Hydro.

Before the British Boxing Board regranted him a professional license, Brown was helping Liverpool’s Liam Smith prepare for his first fight with Chris Eubank Jr.

The former WBO junior middleweight champion is a ruthless fighter who can quickly sense any form of weakness and wouldn’t waste his time working with people who couldn’t give him what he needed. Brown clearly did his job.

In January 2023, Smith produced an excellent display to stop Eubank Jr. in the fourth round.

Brown also got plenty from the sparring. Although he traveled down to Liverpool determined to relaunch his career, Smith is exactly the type of fighter and character who would have tested that desire to the fullest.

“A hundred percent,” Brown told The Ring. “I came away from the spars going, ‘I’m back’. Aston Brown was back. I would have known straight away if I’d left it too long, if I was getting too old. Especially in with a fighter like that. But that wasn’t the case. It was back and forth work, you know what I mean? I was like, ‘I’ve still got it.’ That’s a few years ago and look where we’re sitting now.”