Bilal Fawaz

Last updated

Bilal Kelvin Fawaz (born 3 April 1988) is a UK-based professional boxer of mixed Lebanese and Benin origin. He came to England when he was 14 years old. He was crowned the Amateur Boxing Association of England light middleweight champion. He has represented England internationally six times. He is variously credited as Bilal Fawaz or Kelvin Fawaz and in artistic output as NaijaBoy and as State Lezz.

Contents

Biography

Fawaz was born in Nigeria to a mother who was an immigrant from Benin and a father of Lebanese origin who didn't have Nigerian citizenship either.[ citation needed ] Fawaz says he had a difficult childhood. His mother abused him and his father took him away eventually leaving him with an "uncle", a relative or a family friend in Lagos. When Fawaz was 14, his "uncle" decided to take him to London, England "to reunite" him with his father. His mother had already been murdered in religious riots. Fawaz stayed in the UK starting age 14 on temporary permits without immigration papers ever since. [1] On arriving in London in 2002, Fawaz was put with a family who he says regularly abused him trafficking him into "domestic servitude". [2] After escaping the foster family at age 15, the British social services public system put him in a group foster home in west London until he turned 16, then moving him to a halfway house for older teenagers. Both his parents were dead. Eventually he was granted temporary leave to remain in the UK until the age of 18 and has been illegality in the UK ever since. [1]

Fawaz began to train as an amateur boxer. He got his start in boxing through a sports day event at Brunel University in Uxbridge. After a few months, he moved to the All Stars gym, a long-running local club with a reputation for working with troubled young men. He married in 2011 but the marriage eventually broke down in 2014. [2] He has received a National diploma in Sports science. In early 2012, he won the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) national championships, becoming light middleweight champion of England. He later held the London middleweight title. He acquired championship belts in three different weight classes. [2] He represented England internationally for six times including against Nigeria, [1] [3] Germany, Sweden, Ireland etc. He was considered for Team GB for both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, but was unable join in because he had no British passport. [2] In 2014, the English boxing manager and promoter Frank Warren offered Fawaz a professional contract. [2] But he was forced to turn the reported £200,000 down because of his immigration status forbidding him any legal income. [1] He is trained and managed by Aamir Ali the owner of Stonebridge Boxing Club in Harlesden, London Borough of Brent. Fawaz also helps youngsters in the gym training them in boxing. [2]

For more than a decade, the British authorities have tried to deport Fawaz. He applied and appealed for extended leave to remain; he also applied for a spousal visa; and in one case asked to be registered as stateless person. All these requests were turned down by the Home Office, which considers his presence in the UK undesirable. In 2017, UK's Home Office attempted to deport him to Nigeria through a programme called Operation Nexus, a joint initiative between UK police forces and immigration enforcement. [1] He was arrested on the premises of Stonebridge Boxing Club where he was living for a while surviving on donations and sponsorship from the club. On 29 November 2017, at age 29, he was arrested and put in Tinsley House immigration removal centre in Gatwick [2] for 5 weeks. Fawaz was released on bail on 2 January 2018 by an immigration tribunal appeals judge, [4] and after a public outcry and a petition demanding his release with 117,000 signatures collected. [1] [5] The Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington John McDonnell and England Boxing both appealed to the authorities on the boxer's behalf.[ citation needed ] He has to sign-in weekly with the immigration authorities. [4]

Adopting the artistic name NaijaBoy, Bilal Fawaz has also released a number of recordings and music videos including "Did You See" in 2017 and "I'm Ready", "What More Do You Need" and "Body on Me" in 2018 as NaijaBoy. Under the alternative name State Lezz, he released a cover of "Mi Gente" in 2017, "Smoke and Juice", "You Know You Want It" and "What You Mean" in 2018 and "Wakanda", "My Layer" and "My Layer" in 2019. [6] On 12th February 2022 Fawaz made his professional boxing debut at York Hall, London scoring a TKO win in the 3rd round. Fawaz has risen rapidly through the pro ranks since his debut, amassing a record of 7-1. Fawaz became the British Southern Area Middleweight champion on 25th of November, beating Gideon Onyenani by unanimous decision.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Minter</span> British boxer (1951–2020)

Alan Sydney Minter was a British professional boxer who competed from 1972 to 1981. He held the undisputed middleweight title in 1980, having previously held the British middleweight title from 1975 to 1976, and the European middleweight title twice between 1977 and 1979. As an amateur, Minter won a bronze medal in the light-middleweight division at the 1972 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">László Papp</span> Hungarian boxer

László Papp was a Hungarian professional boxer from Budapest. He was left-handed and won gold medals in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia. In his final Olympic competition he became the first boxer in Olympic history to win three successive gold medals. He won 12 of his 13 Olympic fights without losing a round, dropping only one, in his last Olympic final, to American boxer José Torres. There was not another triple gold medalist for 20 years, when Teófilo Stevenson won three, followed by Félix Savón as the third of the three men to accomplish the feat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Tiger</span> Nigerian world champion boxer (1929–1971)

Dick Tiger was a Nigerian-born professional boxer who held the undisputed middleweight and light-heavyweight championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Collins</span> Irish boxer (born 1964)

Stephen Collins is an Irish former professional boxer who competed from 1986 to 1997. Known as the Celtic Warrior, Collins is the most successful male Irish boxer in recent professional boxing history, having held the WBO middleweight and super-middleweight titles simultaneously and never losing a fight as champion.

Maurice Hope is a British former boxer, who was world junior middleweight champion. Born in Antigua, he grew up in Hackney, London. He represented Great Britain at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.

Henry William Mallin was an English middleweight amateur boxer. He came originally from Hackney Wick, his younger brother was the Olympic boxer Fred Mallin. He lived in Dartmouth Park, North London and was a police officer with the Metropolitan Police.

Craig McEwan is a Scottish boxer raised in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, Scotland. He began attending boxing classes at Clovenstone Amateur Boxing Club, aged seven, coached by his father Rab. McEwan turned professional in 2006 and is currently fighting at middleweight. He holds a career record of 21 wins, with 10 by way of knockout and four losses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Smith (boxer)</span> English boxer

Paul James Smith Jr. is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2017, and has since worked as a commentator. He held the English middleweight title in 2008, the British super-middleweight title twice between 2009 and 2014, and challenged three times for a super-middleweight world title. As an amateur, he won a silver medal in the light middleweight division at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Merdud Takalobighashi, more commonly known as Merdud Takaloo or Takaloo, is an Iranian born British based boxer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Finnegan</span> English boxer

Chris Finnegan MBE was a British professional boxer of Irish descent born in Iver, Buckinghamshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Conteh</span> British boxer

John Anthony Conteh, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1971 to 1980. He held the WBC light-heavyweight title from 1974 to 1977, and regionally the European, British and Commonwealth titles between 1973 and 1974. As an amateur, he represented England and won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. In 2017, Conteh was awarded an MBE for services to boxing at the Queen's Birthday Honours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Calzaghe</span> Welsh boxer

Joseph William Calzaghe is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including unified and lineal titles at super-middleweight, and the Ring magazine light-heavyweight title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Joe Saunders</span> British boxer

Billy Joe Saunders is a British professional boxer. He is the first fighter from the Travelling community to win world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO middleweight title from 2015 to 2018 and the WBO super-middleweight title from 2019 to 2021. At regional level he held the European, British, and Commonwealth middleweight titles between 2012 and 2015. Saunders represented Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics as an amateur, reaching the second round of the welterweight bracket. In the same year, he won gold at the EU Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James DeGale</span> British boxer (born 1986)

James Frederick DeGale is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2019. He held the IBF super-middleweight title twice between 2015 and 2018, and regionally the European and British super-middleweight titles between 2010 and 2012.

James Simon Russan, best known as Jamie Cox, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2018. who held the Commonwealth light-middleweight title from 2011 to 2012. As an amateur, he won a gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Fawaz is a masculine Arabic given name and a surname. Its literal meaning is "winner", as it is the masculine adjective from the verb فاز fāz, meaning "he won". Therefore, it can be thought of as the equivalent to the given name Victor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernie Field</span> English professional boxer & rugby league footballer

Ernest "Ernie" Field was an English Amateur Boxing Association of England amateur middleweight and professional light heavy/cruiserweight boxer and rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s. He played at club level for Stanley Rangers ARLFC, Wakefield Trinity (A-Team) and Bramley, as a centre, or loose forward, i.e. number 3 or 4, or 13, during the era of contested scrums.

Sidney "Sid" F. Parkinson is an English amateur and professional middleweight boxer. He was mostly active during the 1950s and '60s.

Julius Luipa was a Zambian boxer who won two silver medals at the Commonwealth Games and represented Zambia at the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games. One of Zambia's best amateur boxers, he was the country's Sportsman of the Year in 1970 and when he turned professional four years later, he defeated George Chisenga to become Zambian light heavyweight champion and held the title until he was dethroned by Lottie Mwale in 1977.

Larry Ekundayo is a Nigerian professional boxer. He held the African welterweight title from 2015 to 2016 and the IBF European welterweight title from 2018 to 2019.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Daniel Trilling (17 May 2018). "How a champion boxer got caught in Britain's immigration dragnet". The Guardian . Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 James Caven (11 December 2017). "British boxing champion chosen to represent Team GB faces deportation". The Independent . Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  3. ↑ Saphora Smith (7 January 2018). "Boxer Bilal Kelvin Fawaz fights against deportation from Britain". NBC Sports. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  4. 1 2 Bola Mosuro (9 January 2018). "Boxer Bilal Kelvin Fawaz threatened with deportation from Britain". BBC. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  5. ↑ 38 Degrees: To: Sajid Javid - Home Secretary - Grant Kelvin Bilal Fawaz British Citizenship
  6. ↑ Bilal Fawaz YouTube channel

[1]

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.