Scott Quigg says the trust of his parents was a key factor in going from school dropout to world boxing champion.

The recently retired Bury favourite was at Elton High School until the age of 14 before walking away from the education system.

A big decision in any teenager’s development, the now 31-year-old can look back and point to a turning point in his life which was perhaps surprisingly supported by mum and dad Lynsay and Kenny.

Already part of the GFC Muay Thai set-up under kickboxing coach Darren Phillips, it left the former WBA super-bantamweight king training day in, day out, rather than here and there like other youngsters his age.

The drive to succeed was there then, as it was until the final bell of his last fight against Jono Carroll at the Manchester Arena in March, defeat to the Irishman bringing down the curtain on a glittering in-ring career.

“It wasn’t like most young lads who are at school and then in the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was in the gym all day, every day, all week,” said Quigg, who would also link up with Mick Jelley and Bury ABC from the age of 16 as his attentions turned to boxing.

“I’ve got to thank my mum and dad for that.

"If someone said you’d let your son drop out of school at the age of 14, they would say it’s bad parenting.

“But obviously they knew the desire that I had, what I wanted to be, so that always made my discipline very strong.

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“I couldn’t then start going out with my mates or start drinking.

"If my mum and dad have let me drop out of school I can’t show disrespect and throw it back in their face and waste the opportunity they had given me.

“My mum’s my best friend still to this day.

"I've known from being a kid that I’ve always had the backing of my parents, from dropping out of school to my mum being with me all the way through my boxing career, even when I went to America my mum would come out to camp with me.

“I’ll be forever grateful for what my mum and dad did for me.”

Despite not being the model pupil, Quigg has returned to Elton on Walshaw Road on more than one occasion as a famous former student.

“What’s been nice since I dropped out of school is they’ve invited me back to do sports awards and a couple of talks in assembly and things like that,” he said.

“And I’ve seen teachers over the years who’ve said ‘well done’.

“Obviously I dropped out of the school and they all knew why. I used to not go in my lessons and things like that.

“I wasn’t a bad kid, I’d go in one of my lessons, throw a paper aeroplane across the room, they’d say ‘get out’ and that was it, I’d go for my dinner.

“I’d do the least disruptive thing to get thrown out of the classroom and then I’d be off.

“I knew some of my friends and other people I knew were going to school and wanted to put effort in.

"I didn’t want to be in the classroom and disrupt it for them. They were in there and wanted learn.”

Despite not being an academic by any stretch, Quigg cannot be accused of not being smart having been self-managed for the final few years of his career. He could now also turn to training fighters and pass on his experiences to the next generation.

“Academically I’m not clever at all. But on the street I’m streetwise and very intelligent,” Quigg said.

“People speak to me and they don’t expect me to be like I am when they hear my background – a boxer who dropped out of school. But I am intelligent out on the street and in general life. Just not academically.

“Over the last six, maybe seven years of my career, I’m the one who has had control of it.

“I’ve made the decisions, been self-managed and negotiated everything for myself.

"I have a team around me and my lawyer but I’m the one that took control of my career and it’s something I’m quite proud of because I feel like I’ve done a very good job.

“I’ve paid attention to how other people have been treated, I’ve always stayed aware and learned from other people’s mistakes.

“I feel like I’ve done well in the ring and on the business side of things.”