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Adam Azim in training at the JAB boxing gym ahead of his 30 May fight with Steve Claggett. Photograph by Chris Dean\/BOXXER<\/p>\nAdam Azim in training at the JAB boxing gym ahead of his 30 May fight with Steve Claggett. Photograph by Chris Dean\/BOXXER<\/p>\n
The undefeated boxer is back from injury and moving ever closer to a world title bid<\/p>\n
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Adam Azim<\/a> has an impressive record. At 23 years old, the British-Pakistani super-lightweight boxer is undefeated. Of his 14 fights, he has won 11 by knockout. On 30 May, he will take on Steve Claggett<\/a>, a Canadian boxer 13 years his senior, at the OVO Arena Wembley<\/a>.<\/p>\n The fight was announced at the end of April, giving him just four weeks\u2019 notice. The bout comes after Azim was scheduled to fight Gustavo Lemos in January, but was forced to pull out by a hand injury. It is a crucial step towards securing a world-title shot in the next 12 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite the last-minute announcement, Azim\u2019s demeanour was calm and assured when we met at JAB boxing club in Victoria, London<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m feeling really good,\u201d he says. \u201cBody is feeling great, hands are feeling great and I\u2019m looking forward to the fight because I just want to spend some time with the family afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n Azim, born and raised in Slough, is one of seven siblings. The oldest is his brother Hassan, 25, who is also a boxer, and the youngest is his two-year-old sister.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a child, Azim admits, he was a handful, which he attributes to his ADHD. \u201cI was a little shit,\u201d he says. \u201cI was really bad. My mum and dad have probably been through hell raising me.\u201d<\/p>\n He recalls flushing a set of keys down the toilet, attempting to stab his dad in the neck with a pen and urinating out of windows. One time a neighbour knocked on the door to alert his parents that Azim was jumping on the roof of the house.<\/p>\n At school, he struggled to concentrate and was suspended multiple times. To keep him occupied, teachers began giving him lumps of Blu-Tack to play with during lessons. He ended up leaving at 14 and was homeschooled until he completed his GCSEs.<\/p>\n \u201cI needed something to drain my energy,\u201d he says. Over the years, his parents signed him up for several sports. In cricket, he batted and bowled. \u201cBut I would never field because I was too hyperactive,\u201d he recalls. He also tried his hand at football, at which he was \u201cgood but not great\u201d.<\/p>\n The only disciplines that stuck were boxing<\/a> and kickboxing. Azim put on gloves and began training with his dad in the family garage at the age of four. As there were no organised competitions for children under the age of 11, he took up kickboxing in the meantime. \u201cI just used to punch, so I used to get disqualified for not kicking enough,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n By his 10th birthday, boxing had become his main focus. \u201cWith boxing, I could go and punch a bag and control my energy,\u201d he says. \u201cI used to be a lunatic where I couldn\u2019t control it. But once boxing came into my life, I learned to handle it really well.\u201d<\/p>\n In the run-up to the Claggett fight, Azim is in camp, training three times a day and sticking to a strict diet. Each day starts at around 10am with a warm-up of skipping before a gruelling two-hour training session. \u201cI did 10 rounds of sparring before I came here, then I\u2019ve got sprints, and another session later on,\u201d he tells me.<\/p>\n Azim\u2019s coach, Shane McGuigan, has trained fighters including Luke Campbell, Daniel Dubois, Carl Frampton and David Haye. They met when Azim was invited to spar with Olympic gold medallist Campbell at age 18.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, Luke was training for his fight against Ryan Garcia,\u201d Azim says. \u201cShane was there and he saw the potential I had. I always wanted to work with him, so it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n He often ends training days with an ice bath. \u201cI normally fill up the bath with cold water and then chuck around 10 to 15 packs of ice into it,\u201d he explains. \u201cI do that around three times a week. It\u2019s cold and I hate it, but it does have benefits. The longest I\u2019ve done is about 10 minutes. You really have to channel your body to stay in for the first minute but after that you\u2019re fine.\u201d<\/p>\n Away from the gym, Azim is a dedicated student of his sport and its history. For years he has kept a notebook in which he writes down specific combinations of blows. However, he credits much of his success to Islam. He prays five times a day and if training forces him to miss one, he makes it up as soon as he can.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYour faith is important for success,\u201d he says. \u201cAllah puts you in this world and you have to do the duties of praying, giving to charity and fasting.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor me as a boxer, I want to set a good example to the young generation that this world is temporary and to be great in boxing you\u2019ve also got to be very good with your faith.\u201d<\/p>\n During Ramadan<\/a> this year he trained immediately after suhoor, then again in the afternoon. He also completed a charity bike ride from Slough to Cambridge with his brother and a friend. It took them eight-and-a-half hours and raised \u00a37,000 for the Slough-based humanitarian charity the Shazad Yaseen Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some Islamic scholars believe combat sports such as boxing to be haram, as they involve hurting another person. Asked how he reconciles this, Azim says he sees it as less of a combat sport and more of a contractual obligation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201dI\u2019ve signed a contract to fight,\u201d he says. \u201cIf that contract wasn\u2019t in place then it wouldn\u2019t be valid, but my reason is that when you sign that, you\u2019re allowing me to punch you in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n While he is dedicated to his sport, being in camp is hard because it means time away from his wife, who he now only gets to see once or twice a week. Azim married actress Duaa Karim, best known for her role in the comedy series Man Like Mobeen<\/a>, in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cShe understands that when it comes to a fight, I have to be away from my family,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when it\u2019s the person that you love, you always want to spend time with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Karim is still coming to terms with watching her husband in the ring. \u201cAt my last fight, Duaa was really scared because it was the first time she had watched me, and you don\u2019t want to see the person you love get hit. I said to her, \u2018As long as I\u2019ve got you after the fight, I\u2019m fine.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Azim cites Muhammad Ali, who he describes as \u201cthe greatest of all time\u201d, and Amir Khan, who he believes paved the way for British Pakistanis in boxing, as his biggest inspirations. While England Boxing, the governing body of the amateur sport, does not publish data by specific ethnic group, figures from 2025 show that 25% of registered boxers are from ethnic minority communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s a legacy Azim would like to carry forward. His advice for people who want to get into the sport is to be resilient, consistent and determined.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of young boys DM me saying I\u2019m an inspiration to them,\u201d he says. \u201cJust stay disciplined and work really hard. If every rep that you do in training is hurting, carry on doing it, because that means it\u2019s working. If you\u2019re not going there, lazying about and not putting in the work, then you won\u2019t get any success.<\/p>\n \u201cBoxing is a sport where you have to put everything into it, you can\u2019t mess around. The whole purpose is to strain yourself and to push your limits. For anyone who wants to get into boxing, you have to go through that. I hate running, I hate taking ice baths, but I have to do it because it\u2019s the sport I love. After this, I really don\u2019t want to do sprints. But I know if I want to become champion, I\u2019ve got to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Azim credits that mindset to his father, who was determined to keep him away from crime after one of his own brothers was murdered. \u201cMy dad always said, \u2018Stay off the streets, and never put yourself in the position your uncle was in.\u2019 So I listened and I got here because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n He also wants to quit boxing young while he still has his health. \u201cThe more time you\u2019re in this sport, the more danger there is,\u201d he says. \u201cAfter that I just want to live my life, invest well, have children and put them in good schools.\u201d<\/p>\n He does admit that he would also like to try his hand at acting, though. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to get into it and I do try, but I\u2019m not the best. Hopefully I\u2019ll learn over the years,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ll probably get tips from Duaa.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam Azim\u2019s bout with Steve Claggett will be live<\/a> on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer from 8:30pm on Saturday 30 May.\u00a0<\/p>\n