"This year's all about carpe annum - seize the year," he said. After finishing seventh in the quadruple sculls at last year's world championships, Campbell persuaded head coach J?n Grobler to let him start this season on his own. Crews from 49 countries are here and the British have made a good start. A new men's eight came through a rep?age to reach the final and the new double scullers Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington were fastest qualifiers for theirs. The new men's double, Matt Wells and Steve Rowbotham, and the lightweight men's four also qualified. Then I'm going to make my change, and think about the fulfilment of one day being able to say, 'hey, you know what? I took a big gamble and I achieved.' Anyone who has given up a well-paid job they enjoy to follow a dream should be able to respect that.".

At the same time it means a lot to finish with a big game, and I'll give it everything to end holding a trophy. I've signed a three year deal with [match-maker] Dean Powell, and he reckons it will take three years to get to a serious level; well, I'm ready for that."Bernard Hopkins didn't get out of prison until he was in his 20s, and went on to become middleweight champion of the world."I need fights, and a lot of them, but the way I see it, I'll be a lot more optimistic and enthusiastic than the guys I'll be in against, at first anyway. They'll know their limitations, but I'll be expecting big things because I know how good I am already and I'll be improving every day I'm training full-time."I will miss football, but not that much. There are plenty of examples of boxers winning championships after coming late to the sport - I myself didn't lace on a glove until I was 21 - so though it's a huge task, I've seen enough of him to believe he can achieve great things."Woodhouse, who describes himself as an "aggressive, pressure fighter" and intends to box at light-middleweight, accepts that many people in the sport are relishing the prospect of seeing him learn a quick and painful lesson."I wouldn't think anyone will want to be beaten by an ex-footballer, but that's human nature. Yes, he's 26, but his underlying fitness is good and he has the big advantage of knowing how to get the most out of himself under pressure."He's also come from a tough background. "But he kept coming back, and once we let him in he more than held his own, and we've got some very serious young prospects here."So I sat him down and laid it on the line, the sacrifices he'd have to make, the commitment, the pain, all that And it was clear he'd thought it through.

"Curtis came to me when he was at Peterborough, and I basically told him to clear off," he said. In fact had it not been for the family, I'd have made the switch a couple of years ago."As it is I can do my boxing without worrying about money because there's enough set aside for us to live on for a couple of years. After that I'll need to be earning, and I will be."Will he, though? According to De Roux, he's got a serious chance. It was never about money; if it was, I'd carry on, because I've got two young children and though I'm not poor, I'm a long way from being a millionaire.

Wherever I've been the first thing I've done is find the local boxing gym."What people need to understand is my main ambition in signing as a footballer was to keep out of trouble. "I'm very proud of what I've achieved as a footballer - I've played in an FA Cup semi-final, play-off semis and now a final, Sheffield derbies - but I'd still be doing this if I'd been playing for Manchester United. Perhaps his decision to go back to his first love has been prompted by disappointment."Not at all," insists Woodhouse. Soon after joining City he was sentenced to 120 hours of community service for brawling in a Cardiff restaurant - an incident he insists even now he did not initiate - and though he went on to establish himself in the first team under Trevor Francis, Woodhouse was among the casualties when Francis was replaced by Steve Bruce.A loan to Rotherham was followed by a free transfer to Peterborough United, before he moved to Hull City, the club he supported as a child, and for the last six months, to Grimsby Town. Signed by Sheffield United aged 17, he made his first-team debut soon afterwards; three years later he was signed by Birmingham City for £1m.A Premiership future beckoned, but somehow it never happened.