Lewis Richardson made his professional debut June 7 in the centre of a football stadium.

Scores of friends and family made the short journey from his hometown of Colchester, England. They braved a thunderstorm to see the 2024 Olympic bronze medalist outpoint Dmitri Protkunas on the undercard of Fabio Wardley’s heavyweight fight with Justis Huni in Ipswich.

Eleven weeks later, Richardson’s second fight took place 200 miles north in the far less salubrious surroundings of an old, worn ice rink in Altrincham.

Richardson is at the stage of his career where venues and locations don’t matter. Every situation and experience is new and exciting. The 28-year-old middleweight is living in the moment and determined not to let anything pass him by.

“People talk about the pressure or, ‘Do you remember my debut?,’ ” Richardson (2-0) told The Ring a couple of days before outboxing Estonia’s Atjom Spatar over six rounds August 23. “I was so present and that’s something I’ve worked on a lot over the last few years. I want to be present and to enjoy it, but just to make sure I don’t look back on my career and be like, ‘What happened here then? What happened there?’ I want to be in the moment because we work so hard. Parts of it are a blur, but you don’t want it all to be a blur.”

Things should begin to slow down. It looks like Richardson is going to be given time to transition into life as a professional.

The 2012 Olympics are widely cited as the catalyst for the level of attention top-level boxing commands in Britain. Although a glut of fighters emerged from the London Games, successful amateurs played a major role in British boxing long before Anthony Joshua, Luke Campbell, Josh Taylor, Nicola Adams, Natasha Jonas and Savannah Marshall announced themselves.

Audley Harrison was a household name for years after taking heavyweight gold in Sydney in 2000, whilst Amir Khan became a British boxing great after winning a surprise silver in Athens four years later.

The 2008 Games in Beijing produced the first bumper crop of talent. James DeGale, Billy Joe Saunders, Kal Yafai, David Price and Frankie Gavin enjoyed top-level success and created headlines for years.

That impact has lessened recently. Rather than signing up as many Olympians as possible, promoters have started to be more selective about who they approach, and success isn’t taken for granted.

Richardson’s bronze medal has given him a perfect platform to build from, but he has made a relatively low-profile entry into the world of professional boxing.

All fighters want headline slots and bright lights, but Richardson is being allowed to feel his way into his new occupation without having to shoulder a heavy burden of expectation from anybody outside his own camp. When he is ready, he will be quickly pushed to the forefront.

“Either or, to be honest. I think from a media perspective, I’m comfortable in the spotlight or out of the spotlight,” Richardson said. "That doesn’t faze me. It doesn’t change my approach to how I enter the ring, how I perform in the ring or the attitude of how I want to perform and make sure I do the right things in the ring.

“From a progression point of view, from a career perspective, I sort of leave that down to the team. I've got a small but a really trustworthy team and experienced guys who have been in the professional game for a long time. When they feel like it’s the right time to step up or we need an extra fight here or there, then I’ll just listen to them.”

A couple of days after the press conference, Richardson boxed his way through six one-sided but one-paced rounds with Spatar.

The Estonian earns his living by getting into the ring with young, hungry middleweight prospects. It is a dangerous profession, but he enjoyed a reasonably safe passage through the fight with Richardson, who is still clearly figuring out when to run through the gears, when to hold his feet and when to dig his toes into the canvas and punch through the target.

Richardson wouldn’t have achieved everything he did as an amateur if he didn’t punch hard enough to earn respect. He believes that as time goes on and the fights get longer, his fitness and know-how will begin to pay dividends.

“There’s certain things you can’t control,” Richardson said, “but I don't think you should ever go into the ring not being fit enough to go through the rounds because that is a controllable. We’ve seen it over years and years many times, and especially with people at my weight or similar weights to me.

“People like Joe Calzaghe, like Richard Woodhall, they've got a lot of stoppages in the latter rounds, because they'd break their opponents down, but I also feel like I punch hard enough to get them out in the early rounds. It’s timing as well. It’s not just that brute force, it’s the timing, it’s the positioning, the accuracy and I believe I’ve got some really strong attributes.”