Delicious Orie: The boxer who swapped sparring for spreadsheets
When Delicious Orie took just four rounds to beat Milos Veletic in his professional boxing debut at the Co-op Live last April – just three years on from a Commonwealth Games gold medal in Birmingham – you’d have been forgiven for thinking a long and illustrious, 20-bout career lay ahead of him.
But the 29-year-old Moscow-born Brit is a boxer no more, having ripped up a high-profile deal with Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions and swapped sparring for spreadsheets as a financial advisor.
Speaking to City PM, Orie describes how the idea of being whacked around in training by the likes of Oleksandr Usyk before being rolled out on a fight night just didn’t do it for him anymore.
“[Matchroom promoter] Eddie Hearn gave me an offer but I politely refused,” he says. “I was in a good position and so it was quite a big shock to the world when I announced my retirement.
“It just didn’t push me on anymore. I just felt like it just wasn’t me and I thought, ‘Right, I need that fire; I need to push onto something I actually really enjoy doing’.
“I had my first experience as a professional fighter and I thought, ‘Do you know what, have I got another 20 of these in me? No’.”
The business of boxing
Nearly a year into his career with London-based financial planner Attivo, where Orie has blitzed exams in the hope of becoming an advisor to athletes, the 2023 European Games champion makes a connection between the money flowing around the ring – so much of which is coming from the Middle East, broadcasters and promoters – and his wider outlook on boxing.
“Boxing is not money-orientated in the amateurs – you’ve got the Commonwealths and you’ve got the Olympics and all you think about is the medals,” he says.
“But then you go into the pros and you really see the inner workings of business and how you get managers and guys behind the scenes – the likes of Eddie, for example.
“I would have at the back of my mind that the world that they’re involved in, I can also be involved in – not as a promoter, but just involved in that business.
“But then you have people on the side – there’s some real good people, I had a fantastic lawyer and a really good manager, so I was actually one of the lucky ones – who don’t give the best advice.
“I’ve seen first hand the low barrier to entry into the boxing world. It’s like the Wild West, unfortunately. There’s a lot of money to be made but, at the same time, if boxers are not careful, a lot of people can take advantage.”
Orie – who will this year feature as part of TNT Sports’ Commonwealth Games coverage – speaks of inspiring a younger generation, one which is constantly on social media and increasingly drawn into the Manosphere – an online world where young men are attracted by toxic influencers making a quick buck.
Delicious Orie influence
He says the instant gratification that looks achievable on social media is a dangerous mentality. “I will be pushing how wealth is created slowly, and it’s also created quietly, as well. It’s not created through lavish living and making noise,” he says.
Fast wealth and the influence of the online sphere can be an attractive dopamine hit for younger people maybe out of touch with reality, Orie suggests.
“Boxing taught me so much about life. This is why I will never regret it. As much as I can I preach to the younger generation but it’s a very difficult thing because, at the end of the day, I was that kid,” he says.
“I was that kid at 18 who wanted loads of money and flashy cars and stuff like that because I didn’t have much growing up. I was able to be self-reflective.”
A year is a long time in professional sport, but it has been 12 months without any for one of Britain’s most promising former boxers. An esteemed professional career was achievable for Orie on paper, but unsatisfying in reality. Ditching the glamour of the ring for an office cannot have been easy, but the Brit appears at peace with his decision.
Orie says: “I started at Attivo 11 months ago and after battling this thing called the ego [after retirement] – you get a lot of it in boxing – I thought, ‘Right, I’m just going to do things’. I started to feel like I need to feel discomfort, and I need to feel like I’m pushing myself really hard, every single day.”