Jawaid Khaliq: What could have been?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Known for retiring at his peak..

From 2010..

AT the time, it was utterly perplexing. Nottingham welterweight, Jawaid Khaliq MBE, the reigning IBO champion at the peak of his powers, both in terms of ability and drawing power, retired aged just 35 in early 2006.

All those enthralling nights at the Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre, Khaliq usually headlining with one or both of the Booth brothers, Nicky and Jason, supporting, were no more; Jawaid, who had not tasted defeat since a loss to Frederic Klose in his sixth pro fight in France, decided to hang them up, two years after his last contest, a clear points win over Ener Julio.

“I'd had a couple of years waiting for fights, seeing people pull out injured, fights not happening,” recalled Khaliq, now 39. “I had a couple of fights cancelled, one in Australia [against Chad Bennett]. I was fed up. Then we started talking about possible comeback fights, six and eight-rounders and they just didn't appeal. I saw it as a backward step.”

Khaliq recently opened the Jawaid Khaliq Fitness and Boxing Academy in Dakeyne Street, Nottingham. The club is ABA affiliated and already has nine boxers. While this takes up most of his time, Khaliq admits there remains a nagging feeling that he could have achieved more in his own in-ring career.

“I always wanted to test myself against the very top guys,” said the man who was WBC No. 10 when he called it quits. “But you know me, Jason and Nicky, we had a great run. We inspired a lot of youngsters in Nottingham and brought boxing back to the area.

“I think about coming back. This Prizefighter gets me thinking about it and I know I can still manage three rounds. But I know the level I was at before and I think I'm just relaxed with my family now and I've lost the hunger.”

Khaliq worked as a taxi driver throughout his time as a fighter and that did not change post-retirement, as the Nottingham hero had to support his family – wife Shaista, daughters Samia (14) and Alina (10) and sons Saqlain (11) and Haseed (8).

“Immediately after I retired, I did a bit of taxi-ing again,” Khaliq revealed. “Soon, though, a lot of people asked me to train them. I went back to my old amateur club at Portland Leisure Centre, then I started working in troubled areas, doing six-seven classes per week.

“I always wanted own gym. My brother Kamran is my partner and we're sharing a taxi at the moment to fund this. We are trying for council funding, speaking to the Mayor and Sport England and hopefully they will see how successful we've been in the past getting kids off the streets.

“This is a different kind of achievement to boxing myself. I see the change in kids and you know you've helped them and made a difference to their lives. It also helps me to get over boxing.”

Khaliq has always tried to inspire kids in Nottingham and being a Muslim helped in more than one respect.

“My faith helps me,” Khaliq said. “It makes you a lot stronger, more determined to prove people wrong. I was always very outgoing in the community and I got great mixed support. Some people know more now about Muslims than they did.

“My first fight with [Maxim] Nesterenko [in 2002] was on Ede, like our Christmas. It was such a special occasion, unbelievable, a brilliant night. I pulled it out in the last round [stopping the Russian] in front of a big crowd, including a lot of my family and friends. I remember my father was in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage, and he was praying for me. I kept thinking about his prayers and I think they made a big difference to what happened.”

While Nesterenko holds a special place in Khaliq's heart, he rates the world title points win over Willy Wise in 2001 as his greatest memory. His best performance, ironically, came in the one IBO title defence (out of seven) which did not take place at the Harvey Hadden. Khaliq got off the floor twice to drop world-class South African Jan Bergman three times, in his own Brakpan, South African backyard, and stop him in seven rounds.

“That was a brilliant experience,” enthused Khaliq. “Fighting at altitude, travelling away from home and it showed me what I could achieve, gave me the confidence I maybe didn't have earlier in my career.

“I used to have problems with my hands but before that fight I had cortisone injections. It didn't flare up until the last round when I caught him with that [finishing] uppercut, but I was immune to the pain anyway, the adrenaline was running so high.”

Now Khaliq's adrenaline is all directed towards his new venture and he seems to have finally achieved closure on the in-ring part of his life.

“Winning the world title was amazing,” he recalled. “Before I started boxing [turning pro late at 27], I would have been happy to win the British. “Meeting the Queen was another highlight, meeting lots of nice people, getting the MBE [for services to the community]. I was at the top for a good four-five years, and I think I've come out with a few of my marbles left.”

He started his own Boxing Academy.. I believe it's no longer active.

PS.. I only put this in the British section because he was British.. I feel I will get more response here.. If needs to be moved, then please move.

[Taansend]

Nice read

[liamlion]

Nice read

X 2.

Good luck to the lad. Clearly didn't have the proper promotional backing.

[TheLeprechaun]

That was a good time for british boxing. I liked watching the lord of the manor and richter scale as well

[TheLeprechaun]

I remember hare lost to cosme rivera and then cosme rivera got blown away by judah, which kind of showed the gulf in class at british/world level at the time. I think the uppercut judah set up on rivera to get him going is probably the best punch ive seen thrown in a ring and also the fastest

[Dirk Kelly]

Always enjoyed watching his fights.

[kevo]

The holders of the major belts at the time (think it was Spinks/Judah/Mayorga?) would’ve been a big ask for Khaliq, but I was a big fan of his & would’ve loved to see him get a shot.

[jamamb]

solid fighter but not close to the world class guys. more like euro level.

[veriton]

was talk of him facing vernon forest at one time, but that was during the IBO/WBF days on Sky. Thankfully it never happened.