Brinkley disliked wearing headgear and hated the amateur point scoring system - so he turned professional quickly.

Having seen his teammate Gomez beat the highest-ranked boxer in the competition (Manfredo), he took on the second-highest ranked, Jonathan Reid, and won.

His Quarter Final fight saw him having to lose a pounds in an hour to make the weight restriction against Anthony Bonsante, but he won anyway - getting into the semi-finals, albeit in a battered and bruised state.

[5] On January 29, 2010, Brinkley fought Curtis "Showtime" Stevens in Reno as part of ESPN2's Friday Night Fights.

On October 15, 2010 Brinkley fought against the IBF Super Middleweight champion Lucian Bute in Montreal, Canada.

[6] On April 29, 2011 Brinkley fought Peter Quillin in Reno, Nevada, for the vacant United States Boxing Organisation Super Middleweight Championship.