Ex-Swansea City striker looking to go two for two in the ring after turning to boxing

More than a decade on from his Swansea City spell, Leroy Lita has stepped into another sporting realm.

The 41-year-old tried his hand at boxing for the first time in 2025, taking part in Pro Project Productions’ A Night to Remember II. The charity event pitted ex-footballers against one another and Lita emerged victorious against former West Ham and Bristol City midfielder David Noble.

Less than a year later, he’s ready to step back into the ring as the same promotion heads to London. He faces a height disadvantage against former Birmingham City captain Harlee Dean but hopes his experience can pay off.

“It was different, totally different to football,” Lita told WalesOnline. “If you make a mistake [in football], you've got 10 men to back you up.

“Make a mistake in the ring and it's just you. So you have to do the best you can, train, try, learn as much as you can, try to stay calm on the night."

He continued: “It’s the toughest sport. Definitely training wise it's all on you. You get out what you put in so you have to put a lot, especially when we're all novices to it. So yeah, that's a different experience but a good one for us and all the lads I spoke to really enjoyed it.”

Lita moved to the Liberty Stadium in 2011 in the summer after the Swans’ promotion to the Premier League. He scored twice under Brendan Rodgers in that first season but saw opportunities limited under Michael Laudrup and ended up leaving in 2014 after several loan spells in the Championship.

He is now a coach and last season spent time at Sunderland, working with the Premier League side’s Under-21s. The former England youth international still has plenty of fondness for Swansea, though, and would be delighted to see Vitor Matos’ team return to the top flight.

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“I still speak to a couple of the lads. It’s a great place with good people down there,” he said. "I really enjoyed it and I'm still in contact with some of the lads.

"I managed to catch up with Danny Graham a few months ago. Hopefully they get promoted this year. It's early days, nothing's decided in September, there’s a long way to go and hopefully they'll be there at the end.

“It's not about spend, it's how you compete on the pitch. You can spend the most money and still get relegated. Hopefully Swansea will go on to get promoted because it's a great place and great people down there. And if they get promoted to the Premier League it can really put the city on the map.”

Leroy Lita will fight Harlee Dean at Pro Project Promotions’ A Night to Remember III at Grosvenor House Hotel in London on October 22. Buy tickets here.

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