Fawaz has heart, grit, and skill. He walked into the famous Repton Boxing Club and, from the first bell, he found not just a sport, but a family. In 2012, at the peak of his amateur career, he won the ABA Elite National Championship, the pinnacle of domestic amateur boxing. He was the undisputed best in Britain at his weight. The accolades flowed, the national team called, and the future seemed to be written in gold. But every time he reached for the next rung on the ladder, he was pulled back by the chains of his immigration status. The 2012 London Olympics, a home Games that should have been his moment, was a dream that dissolved before it could even form. Without a British passport, he could not represent Great Britain.
The Home Office has told Telegraph Sport: “We do not routinely comment on individual cases.” But in a verbal statement, a press officer added that the case was “historic” and would be looked into.
Fawaz has a message for the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood. “I would hope that she would show some humanity, look at my situation, how long I have waited, how I have fought for my country, how I am proud to be British, and assist me in getting my British passport so that I can travel abroad to box for a world championship, to take my sons and partner on holiday, to do the normal things that we can do with the right to travel as a British citizen.”