Tommy Philbin (13-0, 4 KOs) couldn’t believe his luck when he got the call to tell him he had been entered into MTK’s latest installment of their Golden Contract tournament.

On Saturday night in Brentwood eight light heavyweights will participate in quarter final contests, live on Sky Sports, to determine the semi finalists for the next show sometime in 2020.

Philbin, 29, is naturally a super middleweight but the Scot could not turn down what is a life changing opportunity for the eventual winner. On offer is a two-year five fight promotional deal with six figure purses. And during the competition there will be the added incentive of knockout bonuses.

“I can’t believe I’m in it,” he said. “I’ve always been waiting for a big opportunity and willing to take one too but for whatever reason it always falls at the last hurdle.”

Philbin, a fishmonger by day, had hoped his win over Rhys Pagan in October 2017 for the Celtic Super Middleweight title would propel him to headier heights thanks to the fight being televised, but not long after life was about to change for Philbin in a way that would hit him harder than any punch he has ever taken.

“With the Pagan fight, it was live on TV, it was a great fight, for a title and I thought my career would start and it never and I got unwell as well.”

Getting “unwell” refers to the mental health issues he suffered that would eventually see him hospitalised after concerns that he may harm himself and end his life. When Boxing Scene asked him about the subject Philbin indicated that there were a number of factors, which appear to go back years, which caused his mental health to deteriorate. Philbin, in his own words, explained what had happened.

“I used to work night shift and I couldn’t drive at the time so I used to get two buses into the gym, two buses home. I had a baby boy at the time and I wouldn’t go to sleep before I went back to work at night because I wanted to see him and my missus. So, you’re talking from Monday to Friday I’d get ten to eleven hours’ sleep. That was a big factor. And then I was at Lochend [Amateur Boxing Club in Edinburgh] and Terry [McCormack], my coach at the time, for ten years said I’m not training pros anymore. That was like my dad telling me he wasn’t going to be my dad anymore. I was devastated and then I moved to another trainer who tried to change everything about me. I started to hate going through there to train.

“I started to take time off work and I had to step away from boxing. I got really fat. I got nowhere in my head. I was coming home from work and I would just lie on the couch, wouldn’t speak to Lauren or the kids and I’d go to my bed. I was in a crap way, a crap place and it took its toll on them.”

What brought him back to the care of his loved ones was, as he put it, “good people” around him.

“Lauren, my missus, she’s a diamond. I wouldn’t be here without her, that’s for sure. A few of my close friends, my brothers, Lauren’s mum and dad and my coach Gordon who’s been brilliant. He had cancer. He had been a year all clear a couple of months ago. He had cancer a couple of years ago. He’s been through some stuff as well and he’s been a massive boost for me; mentally, physically, everything, so I’m lucky to have him as well as coach. He’s a friend but he started out as a sparring partner and we became friends and then my coach.”

The beginnings of Philbin’s boxing story is a humorous tale, one that you can only find humour from because of a Scottish accent. People were stealing his hat, young Tommy didn’t like that.

“I didn’t hate school, and this is a cliche, but I had a bit of trouble in school,” he recalled. “I was a good lad but... I don’t know… I must have had one of those faces that people love to punch!” A point of his recollection that brought laughter thankfully.

“People used to pick on me and take my hat off and tried to run away with it. I’d try and get it back and end up fighting them and battering them. I never started anything. They just wanted to pick on me for whatever reason. I wouldn’t back down. So my dad said you’re going to a boxing gym and I went to Leith Victoria and that was it.”

The Golden Contract means more than just money and potential titles to Philbin, it’s about legacy and something to tell the grandkids one day. It would change his life forever.

He has been boxing for twenty years and has found it difficult to completely walk away from it. He loves it. Why? He loves the challenges of camp and the euphoria when winning come fight night. His career to date has him on paper rightly placed as the underdog when the tournament kicks off on Saturday. Philbin fully accepts that but he has a unique explanation as to how he can overcome the odds.

“No matter how hard it gets, it won’t be anything like what I’ve been through in my life.

“Everyone’s got a chin and two hands. It’s just a fight.”

Twitter @shaunrbrown