It is often said that it only takes one punch to change the course of a heavyweight fight.

The devastating left hook that David Adeleye floored Solomon Dacres with in the opening round of their English title fight last December altered the entire perception of the Londoner’s career.

Adeleye, 13-1 (12 KOs), fights Jeamie TKV on Queensberry’s ‘Heavy Impact’ card on April 5th. DAZN will televise the event live and exclusively from Manchester’s Co-Op Live arena.

In October 2023, Adeleye was stopped in the seventh round of a heated challenge for Fabio Wardley’s British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. As is the way in modern boxing, Wardley moved onwards and upwards whilst Adeleye had an immediate ceiling placed on his potential.

The 28 year-old didn’t suddenly rediscover himself over the course of the 80 seconds his fight with Dacres lasted. His problems weren’t solved by the clubbing shot that finished the previously unbeaten man from Birmingham.

That one punch was the result of months of hard work.

“I came back way before that and I’m going to prove myself time and time again,” Adeleye told The Ring.

“That's boxing. You’ve got to prove yourself anyways, no matter what. The top level people have got to prove themselves, bottom level people have got to prove themselves. You’ve always got to prove yourself.”

Adeleye retreated into the shadows following the loss to Wardley. He re-emerged a few months later and announced that he would be training under the respected Adam Booth.

For the first few weeks of their partnership, Booth - who guided his unified cruiserweight champion, David Haye, to the WBA heavyweight title - kept a watching brief.

On the face of it, the smart, explosive Adeleye is exactly the type of fighter Booth would enjoy working with but he spent some time observing how his new recruit went about his business and figuring out exactly what he had to work with before beginning to change things.

"He [Booth] broke me down to build me straight back up and he changed a lot of things,” Adeleye said

“I think a lot of people will see it as well. So even when we were training, he wanted to see how I was going to do certain things. He wanted me to do certain things and get me to a certain level, and then he came in and said, ‘Alright, now we're ready.’”

Although it was painful at the time, the defeat to Wardley eventually set Adeleye on the right path. The heavyweight division is the land of opportunity and, as a member of the thriving Queensberry stable, he was always going to be given another chance. He realised that he needed to make sure he was ready to take it.

Taking himself out of his comfort zone and moving to Booth’s gym was a big step but the move has opened Adeleye’s eyes to exactly what could be possible.

“Yeah, definitely, 100%, especially when you change certain things, you start to actually understand yourself way more and way better. I know what I can become too,” he said.

“The goal is the same. Sometimes the route just changes and I'm on a better route now.”

A heavyweight champion should carry an aura. They should command attention when they talk and leave little doubt that they are present in a room.

What they do in the ring obviously plays a pretty big part in creating that reputation but there is a very clear difference between fake confidence and genuine self belief.

The naturally self-assured, spiky Adeleye has always had ‘something’ about him.

The defeat to Wardley will have bruised his ego but seeing the results of his efforts over the past few months has healed it.

He agrees that a successful heavyweight should have that hard to define atmosphere surrounding them.

“100% they do and I've got that aura too, just either you've got it or you don't. It's not something that can be bought, it's not something that can kind of grow. It’s just either you've got it or you don’t,” he said.

“I suppose it's very important because I have it, and I see a lot of people kind of start shivering when I come around and everyone knows to be on their best behavior.

“That’s why I like this sport. Because people talk a lot online and when they see me in real life, they never have the same energy, ever, because they know what I'm like.”