Naz on? how he started boxing There?s not many people that actually know this and recently I?ve seen stuff with Brendan Ingle. I heard him have an interview not that long ago on YouTube and they asked him that question they always ask, about how he got hold of me or ?Where did I appear from?? And there?s that story about the bus, have you heard it? His story is that he spotted me from the top deck of a bus when it was passing a playground, and he saw me fighting so many kids and beating them up. I always asked him as I was growing up, ?Why did you make up such a story?? It was a full-on made-up story. He believed in his heart that people would still talk about it until today and funnily enough they still do. But I want to clarify that story and tell the truth? that?s the biggest load of bull**** I?ve ever heard in my life. And when I did confront Brendan at the time, he did tell me these exact words: ?Look, it creates a lot of interest. Yes, it might be made up, but the fact is, people will always talk about that story.? And he was right! The truth was, my father one day said to me and my two older brothers, ?I?m taking you down to the boxing club. There?s not too many Asian or Arab kids in this area? ? National Front was a big, big thing at the time ? ?I want you to be able to defend yourselves.? So that?s what we did, my father took us down. I remember being seven years old, walking in the gym, very, very small, very frail. And the minute I walked in I realised it was just something I?d love to do. It looked like a game of ?I?ve gotta hit you and you can?t hit me.?
Naz on? his thirst for knockouts From a very early age, I always preferred the hard single shots and I realised you had to throw them with bad intentions, because it?s about winning and winning in a sport like boxing, you?ve got to want to do some damage. You?ve got to want to hurt your opponent to win. I remember when my brother said, after I got robbed once, ?Winning is not everything; it?s the only thing. So the next time you fight, you realise you?ve got to take your own referee and judges ? that?s your right hand and your left hand and you?re going to have to start KOing these guys, taking ?em out.?
Naz on? his inspirations and goals The belief I had in myself, I knew I was gonna be a world champion; everybody that saw me in the gym day in, day out, knew I was gonna be a world champion. By the time I was 16, I?d already won seven national titles. I decided in the year of the Olympics, 1992, that I was going to turn professional and become the youngest ever world champion from the UK and Europe. And I still hold that record. I wanted to be a world champion as a professional more than I wanted a gold medal as an amateur. It was about looking at the belts that Muhammad Ali had around his waist, that Sugar Ray Leonard had, that Marvin Hagler had, that Thomas Hearns had, that Roberto Duran had. In my eyes, that was the best era for boxing, the ?80s. The second best to that was the ?90s. There wasn?t a better time to box in the Britain as the ?90s and that?s not because I boxed in the ?90s.
