MANSFIELD Town have finally confirmed Curtis Woodhouse as new manager David Holdsworth's first signing - as originally suggested by Chad last week.
The centre midfielder has joined from Rushden until the end of the season - after being persuaded by Holdsworth not to end his football career to be a full-time boxer - but is unavailable for Saturday's home match with Altrincham through suspension.
The nine-fight unbeaten welterweight - who aims to be the British champion - was paraded ahead of a Monday afernoon press conference at Field Mill.
Woodhouse (28), who was captain at the Diamonds, played with Holdsworth at both Sheffield United and Birmingham.
Holdsworth played down Chad's reports at the end of last week that Woodhouse was joining the Stags, but admitted the midfielder was a player he was looking at bringing to the club.
It is though the signing had been delayed to try to allow Woodhouse to serve an outstanding one-match suspension with Rushden - but their match was called off at the weekend.
Then on Monday the club confirmed the signing.
Woodhouse told the club's official website mansfieldtown.net: "I am an all-action player."I like to get up and down the pitch and get a few tackles in . . . chip in with the odd goal here and there.
"We are at the wrong end of the table at the minute, but if Mansfield want somebody to fight until the end of the season then they have brought the right man in."
- Click here for video interview at mansfieldtown.net
Talking about his return to football, after quitting when he left Grimsby for a boxing career, he added: "The gaps in between fights, I started thinking I could combine the two . . . so I went part-time at Rushden.
"But it is two and a half hours away from where I live in Rotherham and I was finding it difficult to do both. I was looking at retiring to go full-time with the boxing, but then Mansfield approached me, from where it is a lot easier to combine the both."
And talking about playing with Holdsworth, the new signing added: "I always knew he was going to be a manager. He was a leader on the pitch and captain at both Sheffield United and Birmingham.
"There is no doubt in my mind he will push Mansfield on and I want to be part of that."
A former England U21 international, Woodhouse started his career at Sheffield United in 1997 and was transferred to Birmingham for £1m in 2001.
- Click here to read sports editor John Lomas' review of 2008 at Field Mill
He has played more than 300 first team matches for the Blades, Birmingham, Rotherham, Peterbrough, Hull, Grimsby and now Rushden.
Woodhouse is also well known for his boxing career, for which he briefly quit football late in 2006.
Since then he has combined boxing and football and was made captain at Rushen last summer, halfway through a two-year contract.
In his professional boxing career he has won all of nine fights as a welterweight - and there is a Facebook group set up by his fans, click
here to join.
He fights again in March and June and added: "I believe you can achieve anything. Nothing is unachievable . . . I am all about taking risks. It has cost me a fortune to pursue boxing . . . but it is about the prestige of becoming British champion."
