Young, Gifted and Brummie

THE BOXER WITH WORLD TITLE AMBITIONS TALKS TRAINING, TRAGEDY AND LATE NIGHT NANDO’S RAZA HAMZA

Raza Hamza might not be a name you recognise… yet. The young featherweight is set for a hell of a year on the boxing scene – he’s currently negotiating a title fight –and if ambition and dedication count for anything he’s on a path to potential global success. He says: “This will be a big year. Everyone will know who I am.” With five British titles, three English titles and two Asia titles as an amateur, you wouldn’t bet against him.

Against the odds, Raza navigated his way through a childhood in the shadows of Villa Park where he watched his peers one by one creep into criminality. He remembers: “Friends were going down the wrong path selling drugs and thieving. I knew I didn’t want to be that person.” Dad was a mechanic and Raza’s mother was a stay-athome mum who loved watching boxing.

She could see the benefits of the discipline required to excel at the sport and encouraged Raza to go to the gym. He threw himself into it at the Aston ABC gym leaving little time for anything else which kept him on the straight and narrow. “I came home from school, ate, went to the gym, arrived home at 7pm and went to bed. There was no time to get into trouble.”

MY HERO

Sadly, when Raza was aged 12 and on the morning of his first fight, his mum died without seeing her son compete in the sport she and he loved. Raza won that fight along with the majority of his amateur bouts, always with the memory of his mum spurring him on to do his best. He says: “I don’t idolise other people, but my mum’s my hero. She inspires me to do well.”

Another motivating factor is the memory of his brother who died aged just 21 in a motorbike accident. Raza turned those tragedies into motivation and his philosophy is: “Never give up. Believe. If there are no opportunities, make one.” Mental coaching, yoga and meditation is part of daily life for Raza. At odds with the aggression he shows in the ring, Raza explains: “Fighting is a job. I’m actually the nicest guy in the gym. I go to the mountains in Wales a fair bit. I’ve done yoga temples in Thailand and I meditate every day. It’s just part of my routine.”

When Raza was aged 16, he moved to Manchester to train under Haroon Hedley so he could really focus. Now he’s back in Brum training with Max McCracken and managed by MTK Global who look after big names such as Tyson Fury and Carl Frampton and is getting closer to his world champ ambitions.

CHEEKY TREAT

A typical day for Raza is very structured with two to three hours with a trainer in the morning as well as a session in the gym – possibly running – followed by sauna and steam room in the afternoon/evening. Food is a regular feature to keep the energy up which as well as the usual training fodder of eggs, pasta, baked potatoes and the like, include a big hit of protein from the odd ‘late night cheeky Nando’s’.

Keen to give back a bit, Raza is evangelical about boxing, giving kids in a similar situation to his a route out of trouble. When a teenager close to where he grew up approached him outside the chip shop in Aston ‘playing the gangster’ with three Nokia phones in his pocket, Raza told him to go the boxing gym. Raza says: “The kid said he couldn’t afford it, so I pay £10 a week for him to train. He now trains every night. He’s staying out of trouble and showing promise.”

Raza feels it’s easier now for kids from his old stomping ground to break the cycle. He explains: “Birmingham is building and getting brighter. When HS2 comes bringing more people there’ll be increased opportunities for sure.” ■

CHECK MATES FESTIVAL FEVER Primary school pupils across the region are being invited to take part in free choir workshops and perform live on the main stage at vintage festival, Swingtime In The Garden. The festival on 6 and 7 June, will feature performances from vintage, jive and swing acts across two stages at Ragley Hall, Warwickshire. Organisers have teamed up with Sutton Coldfield’s Singing Community of Choirs to offer years 4, 5 and 6 pupils the chance to learn and perform four songs. Details: email tim@swingtimeinthegardens.com

SCHOOL REPORT

Hallfield School’s chess aces have done it again! A team of four took on other local schools in the Birmingham and District Chess League Rapidplay, which is a competition mostly aimed at senior schools. The main opposition was King Edward’s School A and King Edward’s V1 Camp Hill A teams and despite the age differential, Hallfield was crowned champions after winning all five of their matches. In addition, a number of Hallfield players represented Warwickshire in the Midland County Championships.

MENTAL HEALTH CHAMP

A local teenager who has worked to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health by sharing the story of her battle with anorexia has been named West Midlands Thrive Mental Health Superstar 2020. Sophia Badhan from Sutton Coldfield was presented with the award at the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) event. Sophia, 18, was nominated in the Young Person category for her workshops championing early intervention and encouraging fellow school pupils to talk openly about mental health.

LYDIA TO THE RESCUE

Ballet student Lydia Brayshaw has turned a school project into a business called LYDIA B which is helping raise funds for WIRES (Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service) in New South Wales, Australia. Lydia, 17, of Elmhurst Ballet School, the vocational school in association with Birmingham Royal Ballet, began designing LYDIA B t-shirts in response to the Australian bush fires. The clothing is made from 100 per cent organic cotton and is world-certified to avoid sweatshops. For every t-shirt sold, £5 goes to WIRES.

NATIONAL FINALS

Bromsgrove School’s 1st netball and U14 teams have qualified for the National Netball Finals after excelling at the regional finals which they hosted. The 1st team was unbeaten and triumphed over Wrekin College in the final. The U14s won all the games in its pool narrowly missing out on the top spot to King’s Worcester in the final, qualifying in the silver medal place. The national finals will be held at Stanborough School in Hertfordshire later this month.

On the back of its shortlisting by the Times for Prep School of the Year and Strategic Education Initiative of the Year, Blue Coat School is celebrating another accolade with headmaster Noel Neeson nominated as one of the sector’s leading innovators and influencers in the i25 Awards. The country’s ‘Top 25’ will gather at an awards ceremony in London where the winners will be announced. Of the school accolades Noel said: “They are achievements we can be extremely proud of.” SIR, YOU’RE THE TOPS!