UK-Bangladeshi boxer had 'no-one to look up to'

A professional boxer says it his "dream" to be the first British-Bangladeshi world champion, as he prepares for a fight this weekend.

Hamza Uddin, 21, first picked up boxing gloves aged two and said his love for the sport was inspired by his father Siraj, also a boxer.

The Walsall-based flyweight is up against Benn Norman at the NEC in Birmingham on Saturday afternoon.

He said he was "working hard and staying focused and disciplined" having turned professional earlier this year when he was signed by Eddie Hearn's Matchroom team, based in Brentwood, Essex.

Uddin said his dad was trained by British South Asian four-time World Kickboxing Champion, Kash Gill.

"My father was a boxer back in his day, he was only starting up but he had an injury so then he stopped," said Uddin.

"There's a video of me on my second birthday in my nappies; I can barely walk but I'm punching the bags.

"I was a chubby little nerd when I was seven or eight, but my dad kept me disciplined.

"My first fight was at 10 years old and that's when we thought this was serious; we thought I could be something special."

Despite achieving academically and securing a place at Wolverhampton University to study business management, Uddin dropped out to pursue his boxing dream.

"Every day I am boxing, I am achieving something new for my people, but to be a world champion and the first from a nation, if you deep it, that is a massive achievement," he said.

"It's not just a dream, it is actually something very possible and that's why I am working hard and staying focused and disciplined."

Uddin's professional record according to his Matchroom profile, is two wins out of two, including one knockout.

Uddin said Amir Khan, who is British-Pakistani, had been an inspiration for most South Asian boxers.

"But in terms of having a role model and having someone Bangladeshi, there is absolutely no-one to look up to.

"That's why the dream is so strong, because one day if I can do it then maybe one day little kids can say Hamza Uddin has done it, so we can do it."

"You get the whisperers who are like 'what is he doing boxing for, it's not a brown man sport, it's not a Bengali sport.

"But that's pushed me on further.

"I'm proud to have my community behind me; it spurs me on; it is a bit more pressure; more people are counting on me to win.

"I can't let them down."

The 5ft 7in fighter added: "Some people say, I would have been in jail if I wasn't boxing, but I'm not no gangster.

"I don't mess about; I'm a good clean kid; I would have been working in an office."

Alex Le Guével, head of community development at Matchroom, said: "You can box being any size or gender.

"Boxing focuses on a lot of social issues, especially gangs.

"A boxing gym is a positive version of a gang."

Uddin's fight is on the undercard of the Sunny Edwards v Galal Yafia flyweight WBC intermin bout in Birmingham.

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