Adam Azim intends to continue his rapid rise through the boxing ranks as he targets a fight with former unified world champion George Kambosos within the next 12 months.
“I reckon I could take him in a year’s time or something, whenever Shane [McGuigan, his trainer] thinks it’s right,” Azim told Sky Sports.
“I don’t even mind,” he continued. “Because I know how to beat him. That would be a good name. Because he was world champion.”
Australia’s Kambosos beat Teofimo Lopez last year in a stunning upset. However, Devin Haney outboxed him last month to become the undisputed lightweight world champion.
“How George Kambosos went into that fight wasn’t a good gameplan,” Azim noted. [Devin] Haney picked him off quite easily,” he added.
The Briton will only turn 20 this Thursday but he is determined to reach world level sooner rather than later.
“Two more years I could be world champion, one and a half years, you never know because I want to become champion at a young age and keep developing,” Azim declared.
“It’s a task, it’s a challenge and it’s a step by step process. I believe using that as my motivation will drive me in training more.”
”I can get to the top,” the rising star concluded.
It’s an ambitious plan, but not implausible. Shane McGuigan has already identified Azim as the most talented boxer he’s ever trained. That’s an accolade Azim now wants to live up to. Rather than just seeing it as praise, he described it as “a challenge” for him.
Speaking about his trainer to Sky Sports, Azim expressed what McGuigan’s statement means to him, stating: “He believes in me. I believe in myself. For Shane to say I’m one of his best talents in the gym, I’m progressing. For me it means a lot to me and I use it as motivation.”
Azim has been delivering so far in the prize-ring. In his last fight he halted Anthony Loffet in 66 seconds. In his previous bout he was exceptional, knocking out Connor Marsden in just 30 seconds.
Marsden had been a seasoned amateur himself and came back from his loss to Azim to beat Mickey O’Rourke in a 10-round Southern Area title fight earlier this month. That makes Azim’s result against him look even better.
“He’s doing well, honestly. When I went to that fight everyone was like, ‘It’s a big step up, it’s a big step up.’ But I knew for a fact in my heart that this ain’t really a step up for me. This is just a process to get better and better. Every fight I’ve been taking, it’s a step up,” Azim recalled.
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“I was just feeling normal, I took this fight as a normal fight. I’d been training really hard, I knew for a fact if I hit him clean anywhere, I knew I would have knocked him out or stopped him. But hats off to him, respect for him to get up. He’s [doing] alright now.”
Azim enters his fights with a seek-and-destroy mentality.
“When I go to the ring, I’m locked in, I’m focused. I ignore everything around me.
”My aim is just get that knockout win, but obviously in style and using my IQ in a clever way. So trying to develop the ways to get the shots in, what way to knock him out,” he explained.
“I’ve still got a lot to prove. Every day you’re learning. When I retire then I want to know I’ve done a lot, that’s when I’ll say I’ve done it.
“I know I’m not there yet.”
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What next?
Adam Azim on the fights he wants next: “Rylan Charlton is a big name as well in the sport and one day I will definitely take that fight, probably before the end of the year. We’ll sit down with my team and see what we’re going to do.
”I’m happy to take these big tests as well because this is where I can show my skills and develop more and show what I’m all about.
“I’m happy to be tested in deep waters like this and I know I’ll come out on top. I’d love to take the Dylan Cheema fight as well. I’d love to have Cheema but let’s see what he wants.
”He did well in the BOXXER Series, I’ll give that to him but I believe I can beat him quite easy.
”His last performance, he done alright but he could have done better. But anyone who has a flat performance, a lot of people criticise them.”
Barry Jones, former WBO champion and boxing expert, on Azim: “I know he’s young and there’s always boxes that need ticking.
”What’s his chin’s like? What’s he like under pressure when things don’t work for him?
”He’s moved up in weight now so some of the advantages he has might not be as big now he’s moved up in weight. But I do think he is a natural born talent. If some of those boxes can be ticked – and I think they will be – then he’s the one that’s going to go all the way.”
Adam Azim will join the latest episode of the Toe2Toe podcast, the weekly boxing show from Sky Sports.
The biggest fight in the history of women’s boxing – Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall – is live on Sky Sports on Saturday, September 10. Be part of history and buy tickets for the London showdown here.
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