It's fair to say that, although Jeamie Tshikeva finds himself in a British heavyweight title fight this weekend, boxing wasn't his first love.

'TKV' as he's now known, grew up with a different sport in his blood. His father, Makasi AKA Big Papa T, was a Congolese wrestling champion who, in 1991, emigrated to the UK and settled in Tottenham with his wife and first-born son after a tumultuous stint in the army where numerous attempts on his life were made.

Three years later, Jeamie was born and by 1995, Makasi had started his own wrestling club in Haringey.

From then on, the route was set for TKV.

"I had my first wrestling competition at the age of four," he tells The Ring. "It's not a thing in boxing where you've got to be protected, you can start really young.

"My dad wanted us to be pro wrestlers. He's still a wrestling coach and I started when I was a baby. My grandad was also a champion and won national championships. At one point, my dad got signed by WWF at the time in the 1990s.

"Even though my elder brother did well. Two of them were in the GB team, and one of them went for the Commonwealth. He wrestled in the Commonwealth for England.

"We did want to go to America, experiencing the way Americans did. But you know, every time we did compete with them, we beat them anyway."

Though wrestling was at the forefront of his and his dad's minds, his fists were to play a crucial role from early on.

He adds: "I remember my first ever wrestling competition, I got disqualified because when I got to the mat, they said fight. And the first thing I did was throw punches. The ref said 'wait, wait, stop, you're not supposed to throw punches, you're supposed to grapple.'

"I must have been nervous."

TKV continued to wrestle until his late teens. One day, however, on the advice of a friend, he took a boxing class which was part of a youth programme his dad ran alongside wrestling.

He attended and impressed. "The coach there told me I could make millions and light bulbs went off in my head." TKV says. "I said, what, you can make millions? So, it kind of stuck with me. You know what I'm saying? So, from then on, I took it seriously, actually stopped freestyle wrestling and focused 100 percent on boxing. It's taken me where I am today.

"I was 18 when I switched over to boxing."

He stuck to boxing, had 72 amateur fights and fought for both England and the Democratic Republic of Congo before turning professional at the age of 28 in 2022.

Now, at Manchester's Co-Op Live Arena, in front of close to 20,000 fans, TKV will aim to become British champion when he takes on David Adeleye (13-1, 12 KOs) in the co-main event on a DAZN card headlined by Joe Joyce vs. Filip Hrgovic.

The build-up has been mean-spirited, to say the least. TKV and Adeleye exchanged heated words at a media day on Monday before their press conference exchange on Thursday ended in a Derek Chisora-style table-flip.

The pair were said to be on friendly terms before, and TKV even admitted to that fact in the middle of their verbal sparring session at the presser. Adeleye responded with: "Forget all that."

"I'm going to knock him out," TKV says. "That's what people got to know. And people will be shocked. I'm going to break him down, really, really break him down.

"I expect him to be sharper in the earlier rounds. And as the rounds do go on, I feel like he will fade. We've sparred plenty of rounds, I won't say too much but whatever happens on the night is how it usually goes. Just wait for the fight. The fight will represent our spars, I guess."

It's not been plain sailing for TKV. His record stands at 8-1 with 5 KOs. He was stopped on cuts by Igor Adiel Macedo in September 2023 but believes his discipline, something which his father made sure was instilled in from his wrestling days, will pay dividends in the end.

"My dad came from the army, even though he was a famous wrestler, he was from the army too and he was very strict, you know what I'm saying?" TKV explains.

"That's how we were raised. There was no one stepping out of line and we stepped out of line, you would know about it."

Even so, TKV calls for 'a little more discipline'. He insists he won't be making any mistakes come fight night, and with a video-analysis team led by Lee Wylie at Ben Davison's Gym, where he also works under Barry Smith, behind him, his confidence isn't unwarranted.

But as far as professionals go, TKV is still inexperienced, so considers himself fortunate to be fighting for a British title on a high-profile card.

He says: "The reason why I'm happy that it's a British title is because I've jumped over a few people, which I'm happy about. Frazer Clarke had his chance, he's hoping he could probably get the British by fighting me one day, and hopefully that could happen one day too.

"We're in a good position, I'm happy. Nothing more to say, we're just in a good position.

"I've prepared and I'm ready for a hard 12 rounds, and I'll come away with the British title."