Phil Foden helping best friend and 'childhood fishing rival' launch boxing career in 'classy' move from Man City & England star

Niall Brown, a 27-year-old super middleweight prospect, was speaking with The Sun before his fight at the AO Arena on Saturday night. Brown has been fighting his way up the ladder since transitioning to professional boxing from muay thai in 2021. Boasting a perfect 15-0 record, his ascent has been thanks in no small part to his childhood friend Foden. The City star has sponsored Brown's training camps for the last few years.

Brown spoke glowingly of his old friend, saying the pair have "been friends forever". Their bond was formed over their shared love of football, but also fishing. The pair used to spend their afternoons angling at their local reservoir or taking longer camping trips in the Peak District. While those trips have become thinner on the ground as the reality of careers in elite sport drain their time, Foden still visits Brown at his gym where he takes time with the younger boxers.

Brown told The Sun: "We’ve been friends forever.

"So he has always seen the sort of dedication I have and, for the last couple of years, he’s just been helping me and looking after me, sponsoring me and stuff.

"I massively appreciate it. It’s mint that he’s in a position to be able to do that for me because he’s just a normal lad.

"We played footy, liked going fishing, everything we liked to do back then, we still do now, but it has to be a bit more ‘behind-closed-doors’."

When asked who was more successful on their fishing trips, Brown added: "If I have to be honest. It’s him. But if I gave it a bit more time, it would be me! But Phil is just fishing crazy, fishing crazy.

"And he gives it everything, like you said, he’s not out, falling out of nightclubs.

"If he’s doing something, it’s probably fishing, which is not detrimental to his sport.

"He’s a good lad, he’s just a normal lad who happens to have millions of cameras on him.”

With City knocked out of the Club World Cup, Foden presumably has a chance to head back over to Manchester to watch his old pal take on the biggest assignment of his boxing career.