But following the death of his nan and his parents' divorce, the Walthamstow man has discovered that life is bigger than boxing.

His mum was the first to notice how those two events in particular had affected her son. Last year, Gilley opened up about the moment she locked him in the car and told him she was booking therapy to help him deal with what happened.

“Before I went through all of that, I didn’t know how to communicate sadness because I’d never had to do it before,” Gilley (18-2-1, 9 KOS) tells The Ring. “I’d never really felt it before.

“That was the first time I had to experience loss and trauma; learning how to deal with it, to talk about it, that sets you up well for life.”

Such experience meant that 31-year-old Gilley has been able to take his narrow points defeat to Davis in his stride, even though it came at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The scores of 115-113 twice and 115-114 tell the story of how close Gilley was to claiming the British junior middleweight title that night, only for Davis to get the nod.

Following his disappointing draw with Gideon Onyenani five months earlier, it means that “The Magic Man” is now without a victory since October 2024 but he has been given the chance to get back to winning ways against Aston Brown in Glasgow on Friday night.

“A defeat like that would have been really hard to take in the past,” he says of Davis. “And don’t get me wrong, it still hurt and I want to put it right.

“But I think back to when my name was ill. It made me think what have I got to moan about? She went through the whole of her cancer treatment, bless her, with a smile on her face. She was telling all of us it will be alright, it will be ok.

“Obviously I was down and I miss her but I have come through that period and now I’m able to use my nan as my inspiration. Every day, no matter what, she was smiling, always positive. I learned a lot from her and a lot from that situation. Mate, life is bigger than boxing.”

So, given his new outlook on life, was there any period of soul-searching after defeat to Davis?

“I did bury my head in the sand for a while,” he admits. “I watched it back about a month later.

“I don't agree with the scorecards, but it was a tight fight so you can't really argue too much, but I did think I nicked it by a couple of rounds

“Everyone was very positive about it but actually people telling me they thought I won the fight made it worse. I’d rather have just got smashed to pieces than hearing that I should have won but didn’t get the result. Then you can say that your opponent was just better on the night. It kicks you in the teeth a bit when it was so close.

“And let’s not forget, once the dust had settled, I sat there and thought to myself ‘I lost at Spurs.’”

Gilley is a lifelong Tottenham fan and a regular in the stands at the stadium. Before he boxed Davis, he had told The Ring he was desperate to avoid the ‘Spursy’ tag and worried that a defeat would change his matchday experience forever. In fact, it has been quite the opposite.

“It was just pure pride,” he says. “Going back there, I was watching the game kick off, and I'm seeing them just moving the ball around in the centre circle thinking ‘that’s exactly where the ring was.’

“I know I lost at Tottenham but I was still involved in a great fight. I don't mind if I get beat in a great fight where everyone's got their money's worth and I've earned my dough. I haven’t let anyone down.

“To say that I've boxed at Tottenham is a bizarre thing to have done in my life. I'm very, very privileged to have done it regardless of the result. I mean, I think I set the tone for Tottenham's season, they're losing constantly so I think it's in the blood at the minute.”

While Gilley has the chance to start climbing the rankings by beating Glasgow native Brown (9-0, 4 KOs), the path back towards the top for Spurs is not so straightforward.

Despite their position at the heart of British boxing — given the stadium also hosted Tyson Fury’s comeback against Arslanbek Makhmudov — the football team are in dire straits. At the time of writing, the north London club are six points adrift of safety with six left to play. When it comes to his club, not even the ever-positive Gilley can see the bright side.

“Spurs are gone, mate,” he says. “Spurs are absolutely gone.

“I’m going to start watching netball I think.”