• Inside Boxing

Rooney and Fergie helped me cope with brain fears - Crolla

Anthony Crolla suffered a fractured skull when he confronted burglars at his neighbours' home © Getty Images

Enlarge

Anthony Crolla learned on Thursday night he had passed a brain scan, allowing him to resume his boxing career after suffering a fractured skull when he confronted burglars last December. Crolla had a concrete slab dropped on his head by the burglars and had to pull out of a world title fight with Cuban Richard Abril. But the Manchester lightweight tells ESPN that support from Wayne Rooney and Sir Alex Ferguson helped keep him focused on a return to the ring:

The support I've had up and down the country and from all sorts of people since the incident has been amazing. I will be out with my missus and little boy and people will just come up say 'Are you the boxer I saw on the news?'

I've had support from all sorts of people - even Wayne Rooney sent a message. I've met him a couple of times and it was nice the likes of him giving me support, but it's every bit as nice the old woman up the street wishing me well too.

Wayne got me a signed shirt by all of the Manchester United players as well not long after I got out of hospital.

Then Sir Alex Ferguson called my mobile before Christmas and I thought it was a wind-up - I wasn't going to pick up.

Every cloud has a silver lining and hopefully for me it means that because of all the publicity over the attack there will be a few more bums on seats watching me fight next time.

I'm a lot more well known for being hit on the head by a concrete slab than anything I've done in boxing! People are following my career now who weren't before.

Anthony Crolla was blown away by the support he got © Manutd.com

Enlarge

Related Links

• Inside Boxing: 'I've sparred with Klitschko and Fury - now I want Joshua'
  

Training has been going fantastic. The only things I've not done are sparring and running. While there's no substitute for sparring, with the running I can use various exercise machines to replace it. I've been borrowing a treadmill that takes a lot of weight off the ankle and that helps at the moment.

I learned on Thursday night that I've passed a brain scan so I'm clear to box again. I'm made up by it and it's a big weight off my shoulders. I can now start thinking about sparring again and I will also be put back in the world rankings because when the attack happened I was taken out of them as I couldn't box for medical reasons.

It was nerve racking waiting for the brain scan but I was confident everything would be ok because a neurosurgeon had told me everything would be ok last week. I'm not saying there's a good place to get hit by a concrete slab on your head, but if there is one it's where I got hit by it, on the hard part of the head.

There's no date yet for my next fight but I'm going to meet my promoter Eddie Hearn soon and the aim is to get out towards the end of May, maybe a week or two either side. I don't want a warm up fight in an eight rounder; I want a big fight, over 12 rounds, because I only boxed in November.

It would be nice to face the winner of Richard Abril-Derry Mathews [who fight for Abril's WBA world lightweight title in Liverpool on April 18]. I've also been highly ranked with the WBO and now I've got clearance to box again I'm ready to fight who ever for whatever title.

It's a very good division. Abril, who I was supposed to fight in January before I got injured in the attack, has been avoided for a reason. Abril is the favourite but Derry is a live underdog and he can obviously punch which I know better than most people having fought him twice. It will be tough for Derry on the night but it's a fantastic opportunity, fighting for a world title in your home city.

When you look at the WBC champion Jorge Linares, who Kevin Mitchell is due to fight next, I consider him to be one of the best technical boxers in the sport today. Linares is underestimated but Kevin can hit hard with his left hand and hopefully he can catch Linares.

It's hard to say who has the harder fight, Derry or Kevin, but they are both underdogs.

The IBF champion Micky Bey was lucky to get a decision over Miguel Vazquez in my opinion but he's a good fighter and has got good backing.

Domestically, there could be some big fights at lightweight this year. If Kevin or Derry win a world title, there could be an all-British word title fight. We've also got Terry Flanagan and Luke Campbell, who is blowing everyone away and is a massive prospect. There are potentially big fights to be made.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd