TRAINER Sean O’Hagan has hailed the dedication of Will Harrison, saying that he could not turn the fighter away from his gym given his commitment to the sport.

Harrison linked up with O’Hagan shortly before his debut victory over Gary McGuire at the Elland Road Pavilion.

Having already penned an advisory deal with management giants MTK Global, the move to train under O’Hagan further strengthened Harrison’s support team.

O’Hagan is best known in boxing for training son Josh Warrington and guiding him to the IBF featherweight world title.

The Leeds coach was also the mastermind behind Maxi Hughes’ recent capture of the IBO lightweight world title and also trains former English featherweight champion.

After impressing in O’Hagan’s gym, he is now in the corner of Bishopthorpe prospect Harrison too, a feat made even more remarkable given that O’Hagan trains only a select group of fighters.

“He’s been absolutely bang on in the gym,” said O’Hagan. He’s there every night for training, he does everything you ask of him.

“He’s like a sponge. When you teach him something, he tries and tries until he gets it right. He’s been a pleasure to work with.

“I get offered fighters every day and I get fighters ringing me every day, and some are very high level fighters. I would upset a lot of people if I started naming names.

“I think that when someone is as committed as Will, you can’t turn them away.

“My stable is a very small stable. But it’s probably the best quality stable in Great Britain.

“Will is in a good position and we enjoy him being there.”

Reflecting on Harrison’s convincing four-round points victory on his debut over Glasgow’s Gary McGuire, O’Hagan added: “It was a good solid performance.”

“He’s only been with us a few weeks. It was a good, solid, mature performance.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything else.

“He followed the instructions, got carried away a little bit at times and there’s obviously still bits to work on but it was just a good mature performance and that’s what we’re looking for more than anything.”

Asked about the most pleasing aspect of the York fighter’s display, the trainer replied: “It was that maturity.

“To speak to Will when you see him in the gym, he’s not a typical fighting character, if you like.

“But I think he showed that he’s made the cut. To say that it was his debut, I was quite impressed with him.”

For many boxers, the entire occasion of the debut professional fight is more daunting than the fight itself.

A sold-out crowd at the Elland Road Pavilion was by far the biggest crowd that Harrison had ever boxed in front of.

“I think it’s natural that he’s going to have a few little nerves,” insisted O’Hagan. “But it’s healthy.

“You don’t like fighters going into the right too relaxed because that’s when things go wrong.

“There was a little bit of nerves and that keeps them aware.”

Elsewhere in boxing, York's John Patrick Harker will be hoping to move his record to a winning one later this month.

Harker, who has one win and one loss on his record, fights at the Ponds Forge Arena, Sheffield on Saturday, November 27 on show broadcast on Fight Zone.