It has been a hectic year for Canterbury’s professional boxer Brandan Olbrechts - in and out of the ring.

Olbrechts has a perfect record from his seven bouts since he went professional three years ago.

The latest of the 29-year-old’s contests came last month - weeks after he became a dad.

“It’s made us stronger as people,” said Olbrechts of becoming a parent with girlfriend Isabelle.

“We had the baby on September 13 and that was two weeks before my last fight.

“We had little Indie and then, five days later, we had to take her back to the hospital. So the weekend before my fight, we were in hospital for four days. We managed to get out of the hospital on the Tuesday and my weigh-in was on the Thursday.

“With what we have been through, my fights don’t compare to them. Those feelings were just insane in comparison to what I’ll go through with my fights. I just think my fights are really minuscule.

“My missus’ waters went on 28 weeks so we were in the hospital for a week and that was tough. We managed to get out and then we had another week in the hospital because she had high blood pressure. But it just all feels like a blur now.

“It was really tough on both of us. But I feel like I channelled it well into my last fight and got the result I wanted.

“Now, I can actually focus a bit more and push on, although, obviously, we’re still learning parenthood.

“But it’s definitely coming together.”

Olbrechts hopes his journey will inspire the next generation of boxers as he does an open workout session at City Boxing ABC on Canterbury’s Roper Close this weekend.

He noted: “Anyone can do it if they’re dedicated and have got a good mindset.

“I’m just a normal lad. It shows it can be easily done if you have the right attitude about it.

“I’m doing an open workout at City Boxing ABC on Saturday. That’s going to include my boxing session and then I’ll have my strength and conditioning session just after, as well as my yoga instructor doing a few bits with me in terms of my stretching, my breathing and that sort of thing.

“Hopefully, it’ll just give people a bit of an insight into what my camp is like. I do those things daily, usually three times a day.

“I’m trying to get as many people from the media and my sponsors there. I feel like it’ll be good exposure for everyone and, hopefully, I can inspire some of their lads.

“I’ve said to City Boxing that I’m going to take a class of theirs on the day, just so I can give a little bit back to the club. I have become quite good friends with the owners.

“They’ve said I can use the gym whenever I want. They’re really nice lads.

“Hopefully, I’ll have a couple of things in the pipeline with them in the next few months.”

Olbrechts became a professional having been offered financial backing from his uncle.

He explained: “It was in lockdown where I was training a lot when my uncle approached me.

“He said ‘Do you want to do it properly?’ because I wasn’t a professional at the time. I said ‘I’d love to do it but just, obviously, you need the money to do it because it’s really expensive’. He said that he’d help me with that.

"Basically, I found a manager and got my licence. So, I had my licence but, because it was lockdown, there weren’t many opponents about.

“People weren’t allowed to fly into the country so, basically, we had to use opponents from the UK.

“I ended up having to box a couple of weight classes above.”

While many may have found that daunting, it was a challenge super featherweight Olbrechts relished.

He said: “It was good learning curve for me, boxing against people who were a lot heavier.

“I had two fights at super lightweight and I boxed really well. Everyone thought I had a great debut and then, a month later, I fought again so it was quite a quick turnaround. I had my debut on October 9 and then fought again on November 20.

“The following year, that was when I was able to drop my weight down and get some opponents my weight. I managed to get a fight against Michael Mooney, who was one of the best professional journeymen.

“He'd had about 120 fights. He’d only been knocked out six or seven times and a lot of people felt it would be quite a hard fight but I trained really hard.

"In the second round, I just caught him with an uppercut and a right hand over the top - and he just went down! They waved him off so that was my first knockout.

“After that, I couldn’t fight for about four months because they couldn’t find me an opponent. Then they found me Jamie Quinn, who was another lad who never got stopped at all, and it was supposed to be a really hard fight.

“But I trained really hard and, in the first round, I caught him with a bodyshot, which dropped him. I knew I’d hurt him after that.

“I went out and dropped him again, and when I dropped him for the third time, the referee waved it off for my second stoppage win.”

Arranging fights was becoming harder amid the level of professional success Olbrechts was enjoying - leading to a home visit by UK Anti-Doping one night - but his next bout saw his career take another big step forward.

“I eventually managed to get this really tough Mexican lad, Christian Lopez, and I took that fight which got offered to me on one week’s notice,” recalled Olbrechts, who is now managed by Lee Eaton, having initially been managed by Steve Goodwin. “He had knocked out 12 people!

“But I just needed the rounds and experience to fight for a title because I couldn’t go up the ranks too quickly. That was definitely a tough one!

“He wouldn’t do any more than four rounds so I managed to do the four rounds with him. It was tough but I looked really good.

“That one was on TV. It was a 'Fight Night Live' for Boxing Social event, which was some really good exposure for me. That was the first time that I sort of got noticed.

“My first one after that, I got on a Top Tier Boxing show, which was in Brent-wood, Essex. They flew an Indian guy, Gurjant Singh, over. That was my first six-rounder.

“Basically, he was dancing! He was doing all these slippery movements and showboating a lot.

“It was a very good performance because I made easy work of him. Because I hit so hard, he didn’t want to get involved.”

A broken arm while sparring in the build-up to a planned bout meant Olbrechts had to wait until September for his first fight this year - leaving him to move house with his pregnant partner as he returned to fitness.

He said: “I was in a cast for nine weeks while moving out and into my house with my missus - and while having our baby!

"We had so much going on at the time, as well as dealing with my broken arm, which was my first major injury, as well.

“Just because I had a broken arm, that didn’t mean that I couldn’t train. I was sort of working around it and doing pad sessions with just my left hand. I was trying to keep everything else on-point so, as soon as my arm was ready, I was ready to go.

“It got to August and my manager said ‘Right, I’ve got you a fight here’. Our baby wasn’t born at this point. It was supposed to be born on September 14 so I wasn’t too sure if I should take this fight just yet, especially rushing back with my arm.

“We ended up turning down about three or four fights, just because it wasn’t the right timing. I ended up taking this fight that was offered to me on September 27.

“That was on a Channel 5 show.”

And on the big stage, Olbrechts, nicknamed Lil B, rose yet again. He beat Spain's Brayan Mairena at London’s York Hall on a points decision.

“There were loads of opportunities on good platforms - like DAZN and Frank Warren shows - but it just wasn’t right,” he revealed. “Obviously I then got offered a bigger opportunity.

“It’s just the way it goes, isn’t it? It’s all about timing.

“Now, I’m in a totally different head space and my performances are just flying. My sparring is just levels above.

“I got the Channel 5 fight and they were worried because this lad that I was fighting had previously knocked out a real prospect, Frank Arnold, on a Frank Warren show.

“They were thinking ‘Maybe this is a bit too soon for Brandan after his lay-off with his arm and everything that’s happened in this camp’ - but with everything that has gone on, I just channelled it. I think I used everything that I have been through as motivation.

"I just bossed it.”

Olbrechts looks to be in line for a shot at a Southern Area title early in 2025 but also has a long-term goal of fighting Stateside in mind.

He said: “One of my goals is to be Canterbury’s first champion. That will be one of my goals ticked off at the beginning of the year, which will be massive for me. Hopefully, I can push on.

“Hopefully, I can get some sort of promotional deal. The major goal for me is to fight abroad.

“I want to fight in Las Vegas. My mum and her sisters were born in Vegas so I’ve got family that live over there. One of my dreams is to box there.

“My manager is putting on shows all the time - and he is putting fighters in Vegas - so it’s not a long shot.

"It’s reachable.”

Among Olbrechts’ sponsors are Phase Energy Ltd, ThinkBusiness, Maidstone-based BDPM, Premium Workwear and South East & London Cleaning Company LTD.