Ex-British boxing champion sent to prison for breaking man’s jaw outside pub

Fitzgerald had been thrown out of the establishment for causing too much commotion by landlady Kirsty Allen. CCTV footage from November 27 2022 showed the 31-year-old ‘bouncing around the pub’ under the influence of drugs and drink. 

Ms Allen swiftly locked the door but Fitzgerald attempted to get back inside, shouting aggressively and kicking at the door. He was then seen throwing a blow towards another man, Leevi Francis, who had headed outside to intervene. 

The punch floored Mr Francis and left him with a broken jaw and a cut below his eyebrow. Customers from the pub took him back inside and he was then escorted to the Royal Preston Hospital for treatment.

Mr Francis had surgery to insert a metal plate in his jaw which causes him pain which wakes him up in the middle of the night and he was unable to eat solid food for a stretch causing him to lose two stone in weight.

Fitzgerlad was arrested at his home in Drakes Croft, Ashton-on-Ribble a day after the attack. At the time, he claimed he had acted in self-defence but later pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm (GBH) on the first day of his trial.

Fitzgerald was once tipped for great things in professional boxing after a glistening amateur career which saw him pick up a Commonwealth gold medal at the 2014 Glasgow games. The Preston puncher went 15-0 in the paid ranks but long stretches of inactivity halted his progress.

In 2020, he was booked into rehab and received support from Sporting Chance – a clinic set up by former Arsenal and England star Tony Adams – to help him overcome addictions to drink, drugs and gambling.

After leaving the centre, he was charged with three counts of common assault and one count of witness intimidation relating to an incident earlier in the year.