A boxing promoter from Waltham Abbey who claims to be the youngster ever is hoping to emulate the success of Barry Hearn ahead of his first show later this year.

Billy-James Elliott, 18, has partnered up with former MMA promoter Mark Lyons to form WiseGuys Promotions and Management and will put on his first show, Lords of the Ring, on May 2 at York Hall in Bethnal Green.

And the teenager has set the bar high prior to his maiden event: “I do not have expectations; I have goals and I judge them every day. I will not stop until everyone knows my name like Barry Hearn.

“The only goal you can have in boxing is to be the best you can be. I don’t want to be down the bottom of the chain.

“Until I have got that sell-out fight at Wembley I am not a success. Doing well is not 2,000 seater shows at York Hall.

“It is good for a person but it is not what I would call success.”

Hearn, 66, is one of the country’s most successful figures in sport promotion and through his company, Matchroom Promotions, is involved in boxing, golf, snooker, pool and was formerly chairman of Leyton Orient Football Club.

The Dagenham-born promoter has been involved in boxing since 1987 and has been something of a sounding board for Elliott in his brief career to date.

He explained: “I was walking out the dentist one day and get a call from an unknown number.

“I picked it up and it was Barry Hearn. He said when he was 18 he was out washing cars and it was a good thing that I was out doing something I love.

“He is my idol. I am not a fan of how some promoters do things nowadays.

“Barry Hearn has got old-school values and puts on shows like the 1970s and 1980s when everyone fell in love with the sport.”

Promoting has long been the aim for Elliott, who first got the bug when he set up a bout between himself and karate world champion Adam Carrigan-Smith in September, racing £14,500 for cancer charities following the death of two of his friends’ parents.

Unsurprisingly Elliott lost to Carrigan-Smith – two years his senior – but the seeds had already been sewn for his own promotion company and he received his promoting licence in November.

He explained: “My dentist gave me Mark Lyons’ number.

“So I rang him up and it turned out it was his brother’s number.

“He gave me Mark’s number and we have just clicked since.

“I rang him when I was doing my charity event and although I did not want any help because I wanted to see what I could do, he gave me some pointers.”

From there the pair formed WiseGuys Promotions and Management and the acid test will now be May’s first show, which will see Mark Prince, George Hillyard, Steven Bendall, Marianne Marston and Tasif Khan defend international titles.

Tickets for the show go on sale on Friday and for more information you can call Elliott on 07807282559.