It’s on to the next fight and the next after that. In the second fight I did that, knocking the guy out. It was like ‘wow, this guy has won everything’. “When I fought in the amateurs I knew what to do. I learned it in an hour.” After win No 2 at Wembley, where he left Stu Greener sprayed on the floor, Azim landed the flip as clean as Max Whitlock. I went to a gymnastics club and the guy said it will take three months. My dad said ‘why don’t you try a back flip?’. On the advice of his father, a successful care sector operator from Slough, Azim decided to add a celebratory back flip of his own to his repertoire. Once I started boxing that was it.”Īs well as Khan, Azim had a thing for Naseem Hamed – the knockouts, the exuberance, the somersaults. I tried cricket, I could bat and bowl but couldn’t field. “The only way to train my energy out was boxing. But he has to prove it.”Īzim was introduced to combat sports to quieten a hyper disposition, first to kick boxing aged four and then the noble art at 10. “He wants to be fighting for a world title tomorrow but is still young. “We are hugely excited about Adam,” says Jake. The 10 biggest fights to look out for in 2022 from Joshua-Usyk 2 to Khan vs Brook 29 December, 2021 Indeed, there is a quality that might yet separate him from the field. McGuigan, who plotted the march of Carl Frampton and Josh Taylor from raw amateurs to world champions, sees in Azim the same rich potential. Azim, like Khan, is tall and slender with hand speed too quick eyes to register. Two weeks after his second bout Azim was back on the pads in the East London gym of trainer Shane McGuigan. At 19 and restless, he is where he needs to be, punching for pay and dreaming big. Khan was blessed with an Olympic cycle at 17. Had the pandemic not intervened, Azim was heading for the elite senior amateur squad at Sheffield, where global success might have been his. Azim and older brother Hassan boast gilded amateur careers packed with national junior titles. A bit of that is what Azim wants, glorification under lights with the crowd on the ragged edge. The mind-bending epic against Marcos Maidana in 2010, the take-down of Zab Judah the following year and the schooling of Devon Alexander just over seven years ago. Brook says he 'wanted to strangle' Khan in heated clash as 2022 grudge match finally confirmed 27 January, 2022
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