![]() I had a big annexe built, where I live with Faryal and our baby daughter, Lamaisah, who’s six months old. ![]() My parents live with us and my younger brother and sister in a big house in Bolton which I bought and extended. My wife, Faryal, won’t come either because she’s scared I’ll get hurt. She’ll just sit at home or in the hotel waiting until it’s all over. Mum stopped coming when the fights got harder because she couldn’t bear to see the blood. He’s so wise.ĭad’s always ringside at my fights – his main priority is that I’m safe. And I know my dad is never going to stitch me up! He’s always giving me pep talks warning me against people who might just want to be my friend because of who I am. It’s great to have him taking care of all that because it’s so easy when you’re young to be reckless with money. He deals with the lawyers, making sure my fight contracts are all up to date and done properly. I don’t have to worry about the business side of my career, because Dad oversees all that. I was only 17 and I know Mum and Dad were scared for me because I was just a boy, yet I was fighting men. But he was so proud, especially when I won a silver medal in the 2004 Olympics. His intention was to keep me off the streets, not to make me a world-class boxer. If it wasn’t for him I have no doubt I’d have just wasted my life.ĭad was surprised when people at the gym started saying that I had the potential to be a champion. It also taught me respect, because Dad made it clear that if I didn’t behave I wouldn’t be able to go back to the gym. ![]() It made a huge difference to the way I saw life, and taught me discipline. Dad was worried, so when I was eight, he took me to boxing classes in an attempt to divert my energy and keep me out of trouble. At home, I was always breaking things and annoying everyone. I wouldn’t listen to anyone and thought I knew best. As a kid I was hyperactive and the naughty one in school.
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