BOXER Bilal Fawaz has survived being shot and homelessness but his biggest win came in his fight to stay in the country.
Fawaz is now the English super-welterweight champion – having won a 16-year battle to remain in the UK.
Now he is English champion[/caption]
And his journey has seen his survive knife attacks, poverty and the threat of deportation.
Fawaz was born in Nigeria to a mum from Benin and a Lebanese father – bullied for the colour of his skin.
He told The Guardian in 2020: “I’m too black to be called white and I’m too white to be called black.
“I was the odd one out and people would say: ‘Go back to your country.’ I would tell them: ‘I was born here. ’
“But they bullied me and treated me as an outcast.”
Fawaz also grew up with abusive parents who would beat and torment him.
He said: “When I was a kid in Nigeria my mum beat me to the point where I was bleeding on several occasions.
“She took her depression and regret out on me. She was too young to have kids so she had emotional problems.
“My dad is Lebanese. I didn’t see him because he was a businessman. He never spent a significant amount of time for me to feel I had a dad.”
Fawaz was later trafficked to London at the age of 14 by his dad to stay with a man he was told was his uncle.
He said: “I felt like a slave because I wasn’t allowed to leave. I couldn’t go to school or the shops.
“I was slapped, beaten with a flip-flop, and told I had to clean the kitchen and do everything in the house.
“I eventually escaped and someone found me in the street, crying. They took me to social services.”
Fawaz was later taken into care – but trouble found him on the streets.
Before his rematch with Junaid Bostan, he said: “When I was 17, I had so much fire and I did not know what to do with it.
“I needed guidance, I did not have a mum or dad so I got in trouble. I got stabbed 25 times, I got shot with a gun. It’s crazy.”
Fawaz bares the scars of his troubled past, with a gun shot wound in his leg and numerous stabs marks in his midsection.
But his refuge was found in boxing with trainer Steve Palmer at the All Stars gym in Harrow Road, West London.
He said: “I came here and everything changed.”
Fawaz had a successful amateur career, winning 80 of his 90 bouts with national titles and even representing England on six occasions.
He cleaned toilets in the gym and coached boxing in exchange for cash, food and accommodation while also surviving on donations.
But his biggest fight was outside the ring.
Fawaz faced deportation but as his dad never registered his birth in Nigeria, the boxer was declared stateless.
He said: “The Nigerian Embassy said I’m not Nigerian. The Home Office arrested me and took me to a detention centre.
“They released me after a while due to my mental condition. But they locked me up again one year later.
“It was the same agenda and the Nigerian Embassy said: ‘Why are you bothering us? This boy is not Nigerian. ’
“My father had died so I couldn’t claim any citizenship with Lebanon either. I belonged nowhere.”
Fawaz was in and out of immigration removal centres as he desperately fought his case.
He was denied the right to turn professional and fought on the white collar scene of unlicensed boxing to remain active in the ring.
But finally, in June 2020 Fawaz’s life changed forever when an immigration lawyer broke the news that he had won his right to live and work in the UK.
I needed guidance, I did not have a mum or dad so I got in trouble. I got stabbed 25 times, I got shot with a gun. It’s crazy.
Bilal Fawaz
After the 16-year battle came to an end, he said: “At first I couldn’t hear what my lawyers were saying.
“I went upstairs where there was nobody sitting and they told me that I’d been given leave to remain, it felt so surreal I had to get them to repeat it and then I just started yelling and crying all at once because the relief was just so emotional and so overwhelming.”
Fawaz turned pro in 2022 racking up wins on the small hall circuit – losing just one to Ayoub Zakari.
His biggest fight came in January when he suffered a controversial split-decision draw against Bostan – leading to their rematch in Sheffield.
And after another equally thrilling affair, Fawaz was awarded a majority-decision victory, one that took him a moment to even realise.
Fawaz had his hand raised but was unaware he had won – sparking a hilarious delayed reaction even shouting: “I won?”
The inspirational fighter was made to wait for his crowning night after his contentious draw and misunderstanding with the scorecards.
But perhaps it proved fitting chapter in what has been a remarkable and heroic story of patience and determination.
Fawaz beat Junaid Bostan in their Sheffield rematch[/caption]
The super-welterweight was unaware he had even won[/caption]
He became English champion with the win[/caption]
