Middleweight Richardson (2-0) had made a solid start to life as a pro following his Olympic bronze in Paris, which was Great Britain’s only boxing medal at the games.

But after notching two wins in his first 11 weeks as a pro, things turned sour on Christmas Eve when he tore his biceps during a sparring session.

After an operation and exhaustive rehab during the first half of 2026, the southpaw is now ready to return and will make his comeback September 26 on the Queensberry Promotions card headlined by the European featherweight title fight between Liam Davies and Nathaniel Collins.

Now the 29-year-old has told The Ring that it will be McCracken in his corner going forward following his decision to leave Ipswich-based Dennis Adams.

“I have nothing but good words to say about Dennis,” Richardson told The Ring. “He is a fantastic man and fantastic coach.

“But I just felt like for me to get the best out of myself, the place to be was Sheffield again. The facilities are second to none and I’ve built fantastic relationships with people over a long period of time there.

“The sparring you get up here is great, there are a good few pros up here and at a very top level. I feel like I'm in a great place and being guided by someone who's absolutely seen it all in the sport. I'm really excited for the return. I'm excited for the next 12 to 18 months because I will certainly be picking titles up within that time frame.”

McCracken is performance director for GB Boxing but also trains a number of elite pros, like Lauren Price and Callum Simpson, at Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport. So how did the conversation about a return go for Richardson?

“It was a lot faster and a lot smoother than I expected,” he says.

“But Rob really has seen and done it all and I just think there's a respect between us now. We first met more than 10 years ago, but I was sparring a pro in a professional boxing gym and Rob was down there with one of his pros.

“So now fast forward maybe 10 to 12 years later, and now we're working together in the professional game.

“Over those years, we forged our respect and our relationship so switching back up here, the whole process of speaking, going through the right hoops to get the all clear was very smooth.”