Words by Luke Williams. Images: Jim Fenwick.
AS he attempts to scale the domestic ladder and reach the promised land of world level, Sudanese-born lightweight prospect Ahmed ‘Havoc’ Hatim – who fights out of Ladbroke Grove, west London – has an unswerving mantra: “the work never stops”.
This Saturday, the 28-year-old puts his unbeaten 10-0 (3 KOs) ledger on the line at York Hall when he defends his Southern Area lightweight title against Norfolk’s Michael Webber Kane (14-0-1) in a fight that also doubles up as a Commonwealth and British title eliminator.
When we speak on a blazing hot afternoon a couple of weeks out from the fight, Hatim is clearly laser focused – a lazy afternoon in the park certainly isn’t on his agenda.
“I’m like the sunshine but the work never stops,” he says with conviction. “It’s a big fight for me and my preparation is as intense as always. Fighting is the easy part. What’s happening right now in training is the hard part – nailing down the fitness and the game plan. I put myself into uncomfortable places in training so the fight will feel easy. The more time I have to prepare the more confident I will get. I’ll go in there with no excuses and looking to do a complete demolition job on Webber Kane.”
Alongside the mantra of “the work never stops”, another philosophy Hatim swears by is that of constant self-improvement, as he explains when referencing his most recent contest – a comfortable points win against Aaron Prospere in February that snaffled him the vacant Southern Area 135lbs belt.
“I learned a lot from that fight,” he stresses. “One thing I took away was a blueprint for my future fitness. There was one round where I threw a barrage of punches. I thought the referee was going to stop it but he didn’t and then I realised I had expended a lot of energy.
“With time, you learn how to recover from situations like that and use the rounds to your advantage so you can get yourself back on form. That’s how you build experience and know that what you’re doing in camp is working.”
Hatim’s boxing journey has been a fascinating one. In the week that Boxing News’ print edition is celebrating African boxers, he is proud to be the standard bearer for a country whose boxing heritage is minimal, namely Sudan, where he lived until he was five.
“My early childhood is a bit of a blur to me,” he admits of his early years in the northeast African nation. “I have memories of different cultures and different environments. When I came here, I didn’t fit in straight away with the other kids. I had to do a lot of proving myself from a young age. I had to assert myself.
“School kids can be a menace, man, they’ll test you left right and centre and I had to do a lot of proving of myself! In the end I found boxing, and I thought well I’ve been fighting anyway after school so I’ll find this easy!”
Hatim freely and laughingly admits that the first time he laced up a pair of gloves at the renowned Dale Youth Boxing Club, “I got my backside absolutely kicked in” before subsequently “falling in love with the sport”.
He admits that the idea of becoming a professional “came gradually” as his love for the sport deepened, explaining: “I’d find myself being the first one to arrive in the gym and the last one out. I was always looking to compete and asking the coaches to put me in this tournament or championship.
“After a while, I was attached to the idea of becoming a pro. Everything suddenly fell into place. My next-door neighbour was a photographer called Jim Fenwick. One day, I had a cut and black eye from a championship fight and Jim said to me: ‘Hey, what happened to your eye?’ I replied: ‘oh boxing!’ He told me that he had a good friend who managed Richard Commey and said I should have a word with him. One thing led to another and I turned over with Michael [Amoo-Bediako] and the rest is history!”
Hatim’s manager, the aforementioned Amoo-Bediako, is a leading supporter of African boxing. Having previously led Ghanaian Commey to IBF world title glory, he now guides the career of several up-and-coming West African boxers, as well as supporting the development of the sport in Ghana through his charitable Streetwise Foundation.
Inspired by Amoo-Bediako’s advocacy of African boxing, Hatim admits he is motivated by another goal alongside personal ambition – namely, a desire to put the country of his birth on the boxing map.
“Anything is doable,” he enthuses. “When I first started boxing, I didn’t think I’d become a professional. I just wanted to get in the ring because I liked fighting and wanted to challenge myself. But now I find myself here as the first Sudanese southern area champion, and god willing, soon to be an English, British or Commonwealth champion, and then heading to world level.
“I’ve been very inspired by what Michael is doing in Ghana. Obviously, that’s a country that embraces boxing and has a great boxing heritage, particularly in terms of Bukom and all the great fighters that have come from there.
“My aspiration for the future is to bring boxing to Sudan. We don’t have a boxing federation over there, but I want to build something there so kids over there have the chance to achieve something through boxing like I have done here.”
