The Khademi vs Ahmed fight will be broadcast on Saturday 27th February at 7.30pm on BT Sport 1
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From escaping the Taliban to fighting for BT Sport
Kaisy Khademi has been on an incredible journey and in order to one day fulfil her dream of becoming a world champion, she has already fought some of the toughest battles she will probably ever face.
Khademi (8-0, 2 KOs) defends his WBO European Super Flyweight title while the vacant IBF European crown hangs in the balance on Saturday at the Copper Box Arena when he faces Ijaz Ahmed live on BT Sport, the main event after Lyon Woodstock tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday ahead of his fight with Anthony Cacace.
Khademi now lives in London and is focused on climbing the career ladder, but it is a far cry from the troubling but fascinating childhood that saw the 26-year-old embark on a four-year journey to the UK to escape the Taliban.
Born in Kabul, Khademi was in the region during the Taliban’s rule and the outbreak of the Afghan war, a situation he remembers well.
“The war had just started, it was a very bad time to grow up,” Khademi said. proboxing-fans.com in November.
“So I was four years vintage and our family was not unthreatening at all. The war was crazy, everyone was being shot at, everyone was being killed, people were being dragged out of their homes, people were being shot at.
“At that time it was a very bad time and all we had to do was flee the country.”
After two years in Pakistan, Khademi, then six, left with up to 30 family members, heading to the UK in search of a safer life.
However, this would not be a routine journey, rather a journey full of obstacles and challenges that very few face in their lifetime.
“We walked through the jungle at night, hiding from the police, I spent a day in the shed, and then the next day I moved to another place.
“Day by day we moved from house to house and got closer and closer to the borders.
“When I was walking in the jungle, there was a moment when my foot got stuck in the mud, my shoe disappeared, I was walking on a bear foot and I had a cut all over my foot.
“I was juvenile, but there were moments when I suffered a lot, but above all it was an adventure. When I look back, it seems like an adventure because I had no responsibilities, I was juvenile, I was a child.
“The main pressure and responsibility was on the others, because if something happened, they would pay the consequences, and they didn’t want to get caught.
“Now I know that if I were that age, I would have had a lot more responsibility, it would have been a lot harder, and I would have been a lot more afraid of getting caught.
“At one point we split into three groups, we all got lost, and when we got to Germany we met up at the same camp and ended up in the same camp.”
Despite his hard past, Khademi has an admirable perspective on the path that has brought him to where he is today and uses this as motivation to achieve his ambitions in boxing.
“I am very grateful, I know how hard it is [I’ve worked] I’ve come a long way to get here, now I want to operate it positively and make something of myself.
“I’m smarter now, I can relate it more to the journey. As an amateur, I never took boxing too seriously. It was just nice to stay out of trouble.
“I never thought I would come this far. I have a lot of people giving me routes home, my whole family giving me routes, so I feel like I have a responsibility to end this journey the way we started our journey from Pakistan to get to the UK.
“It was a long journey, in many places we could have given up because we had no money, we were lost, hungry, at any moment we could have given up, given ourselves to the government and said, ‘Listen, send us back,’ they would probably lock us up for a few months and send us back.
“But we never lost hope and we kept moving towards this dream to get here and I have the same mindset to win the world title and that’s the mindset I’m using to hopefully get there.”
Saturday evening gives Khademi another chance to stay on that path when he clashes with Ijaz Ahmed in east London.
The couple were due to meet in November, but shortly after the interview, Khademi tested positive for Covid-19.
The 26-year-old is the fourth best super flyweight in the UK, according to the data. Boxrec.comhis opponent is ranked fifth and Khademi, who signed with Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions in June, believes the fight could go within the scheduled ten-round distance.
“People will see the strength in me.
“They will see a lot of movement, a lot of sliding and a lot of skill, and it will be a breathtaking fight and maybe [you’ll] See knockout.
“So tune in and watch, it’s gonna be a fun fight because I know he’s coming to start a war and I’m there to start my own war.
“He probably judges me based on my last few fights, and in my last few fights I boxed with a very impoverished right hand and that’s why I was on my back foot.
“But this time people will see what my right hand is all about and I have to make a statement.”
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Eddie Hearn believes Tyson Fury will retire after a legacy-defining clash with Anthony Joshua.
Fury stunned the boxing world on Monday when he announced his retirement from the sport, leaving behind a megafight with Joshua.
The “Gypsy King” announced his shocking decision less than a month after suffering, among other things, second defeat in a row against Oleksandr Usyk in Riyad, but Joshua’s promoter, Hearn, is convinced that the fighter from Morecambe will return to the ring to fight the long-awaited showdown with “AJ”, who is returning after a fifth-round defeat to Daniel Dubois.
“In my opinion, I think he will come back,” the 45-year-old said talkSPORT.
“But I don’t know him well enough to judge that.
“He’s coming back after two defeats, and these defeats hurt the boys.
“AJ was devastated by the defeat to Dubois and I’m sure Fury was too [with his defeats to Usyk]both are winners.
“I don’t know if Fury can leave one of the biggest fights in the history of the sport on the table.
“I know he’s a competitor. I know he will want to give the British fight fans what they want and I hope we see more of him.
“But if we don’t, God bless the speed and all the best.”
Fury hung up his gloves after defeating Dillian Whyte in April 2022, only to return eight months later for a third fight with Derek Chisora, whom he defeated comfortably at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Hearn said Joshua will now look to secure a clash with the winner of the February 22 fight between his former rivals Dubois and Joseph Parker, who will fight in Riyad for the IBF heavyweight world title.
If Fury returns to fight AJ, the Matchroom boss insists the loser would have nowhere to go.
“They would both be devastated by defeat,” he added.
“It’s one thing to lose the world heavyweight title, but at the same time losing in a fight of this magnitude is the biggest bragging rights.
“At this stage of their career, the last word is goodbye.
“Whoever loses this fight is finished and whoever wins it moves on and that’s what you fight for.
“You’re not just fighting for a legacy, you’re fighting to save your career.
“It’s a huge fight, but it’s not on the table right now.”
Callum Simpson defended his British and Commonwealth super middleweight titles after a second-round victory over Steer Woodall on Saturday at the Park Community Arena in Sheffield.
Simpson (16-0, 11 KO) proved too good for Zak Chelli in his last competition and went on to sweep wide and claim the British and Commonwealth titles last August. Woodall (19-3-1, 12 KO) picked up his best career win, stopping Lerrone Richards in six rounds in an upset in Bolton last June.
This attack ended quickly in the second round, with a right uppercut that left Woodall on wobbly legs, and then another attack punctuated by another right uppercut, leaving “The Stallion” on the deck.
Despite beating the count, referee Mark Bates waved off the fight shortly afterwards.
Simpson dedicated his victory his dead sisterwho died tragically in August in a road accident.
“It’s bittersweet,” the 28-year-old said Heavenly sports after the fight.
“I won these titles in front of all my fans, but there’s one person that I think everyone knows who I wish was here, but I know she’s looking down on me and I make her proud.”
Dubois is tied with Camara
On the card below, Caroline Dubois (10-0-1, 5 KO) made her first defense of her WBC lightweight title against Canadian Jessica Camara (14-4-1, 3 KO), but the fight ended in a technical draw.
The fight was stopped due to a cut to Camara’s left eye from the head collision, and she also went down in the first round.
Forrest stops Miller
Cruiserweight prospect Scott Forrest needed just two rounds to defeat Deevorn Miller.
Miller (8-3, 6 KO) lost once in the first and second rounds, while Forrest (7-0, 4 KO) won outright.
Undercard remaining
In the featherlight heavyweight division, where Billy Deniz defeated Mickey Ellison (15-8, 5 KO) by one point.
Deniz (13-0, 5 KO) won with a score of 77-76.
In the six-round middleweight division, Sam Hickey (2-0, 1 KO) stopped Lewis Howells (3-2) three times en route to a first-round victory, and Mauro Silva (7-0, 3 KO) scored a 59-56 victory against Emmanuel Zion (6-3, 3 KOs).
Ellis Price (2-0, 1 KO) stopped Liam Fitzmaurice (0-1) twice en route to a first-round lightweight victory.
Lauren Price believes Natasha Jonas was pressured into fighting her ahead of their March 7 unification clash.
Price will put his WBA and IBO welterweight titles on the line when he faces IBF and WBC champion Jonas live at the Royal Albert Hall. Heavenly sports.
Jonas’ coach, Joe Gallagher, has said he would prefer to see the 40-year-old retire, and Price, who won Olympic gold in 2021, is doubtful whether her rival wants to face her.
“I don’t think either of them wanted this fight,” the 30-year-old said proboxing-fans.com.
“But like I said, she has two belts, I have three and it’s just a great fight.
“The fight is signed, sealed and announced, so on March 7 we will see who will be the best.
“If you look at my amateur record, Olympic gold medalist, I haven’t lost a single round as a professional.
“The performance I am up against [Jessica] McCaskill in Cardiff against the legitimate world champion, the proof is in the pudding.
“I’ve got it. I’m in my youth.
“She’s coming to the end of my career and I don’t blame her, but in the end she has something that I want and that’s really it, there’s nothing personal.”
Jonas secured the WBC crown with a unanimous decision victory over then-champion Ivana Habazin in December in Liverpool, moments after Price defeated Bexcy Mateus in three rounds on the same bill.
The pair then clashed during a heated post-fight interview to confirm their upcoming match.
The Welshwoman believes that her youth, speed and dominance in the ring will allow her to defeat the experienced Liverpool resident on Friday in eight weeks.
Asked what her advantage was over Jonah, Price added: “Probably my youth.
“Reading the fight, my ring IQ, my speed.
“The little feints, the triggers I do, people reading me.
“Everyone says they will do it, they will do it until I stand in front of them, so we will see on March 7.
“But overall I think I’m just better and I believe I’ll win.”
Watch the full interview with Lauren Price:
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