British Olympian Delicious Orie has revealed he turned down an opportunity with WWE wrestling to become a professional boxer after signing with Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions.
Orie has been touted as a potential future star of British boxing, and joins Warren's strong stable of heavyweights, which includes IBF world champion Daniel Dubois and Moses Itauma.
The 27-year-old competed at the Paris Olympics last summer in the super-heavyweight division but suffered a surprise defeat to Armenian Davit Chaloyan in the first round via a 3:2 split decision.
The loss came as a shock to many after he was touted as a medal hopeful following his Commonwealth Games gold in 2022.
Orie has said he turned down an approach from WWE to join the world of professional wrestling in a bid to one day be a heavyweight world champion.
"They [WWE] sold it to me. I mean, I didn't buy it, but they attempted to sell it to me," Orie said.
"It was this whole complete package of the WWE being the biggest entity in the entertainment industry. It's massive. It's huge, and I've got the potential to be this huge superstar.
"But I took a few weeks off after that. I really thought to myself, 'what is it that I want to achieve as Delicious? What do I want to leave for my kids?'
"So I thought to myself, I'm going to become a boxer. And when I'm 50, 60 years old, looking back, I'll think to myself, whatever it is I go out achieve, I did everything I possibly can to be the best I can be in the real world. So that's why I decided to go boxing."
Orie said he wanted to choose the harder road of professional boxing, as avoiding the easier option has always been his way.
Born in Russia, Orie moved to England at the age of seven with his family. He had to learn English and get up to speed at school quickly. He worked as a bouncer, as well as a host of other jobs, to pay his own way through university.
"I'd never been to a pub or a club before in my life, so the first time I've actually been into one I was working in one," Orie explains.
"Even confiscating drugs, I've never seen anything like it before, but I've had to confiscate off people my age. It was crazy, but it was anything I could possibly do to earn money.
"I would do my university degree and while my mates would go out for the drinks, I'd be working that Friday, Saturday and I'll be doing my runs, my training and stuff like that."
Orie said he was convinced after his first meeting CEO George Warren that Queensberry was the place for him.
"I met George, [I] never knew of him before, I've only known of Frank Warren. I went to go and see him at his office and I was instantly impressed," Orie said.
"The professionalism, the way he carried himself. I was really, really impressed. And I genuinely did believe deep down that we could not only make a lot of money together, but we could also improve boxing, especially in heavyweights."