Fiaz believes hard times are in his past, ready for Padley shot
It feels as if Aqib Fiaz has been around forever.
The junior lightweight from Oldham is still only 26 years old, but has already crammed more into his career than some veterans.
Fiaz started on the small hall scene and signed a promotional deal with Matchroom as a teenager. He lost both his mother and best friend during the COVID-19 pandemic before taking time out to raise money for a charity supporting orphans and children in his mother's memory.
He has fought behind closed doors, broken his hand, got married and become a father. That doesn't take into account the usual fight cancellations and management changes that every professional goes through.
On Saturday, Fiaz (14-1, 2 KOs) has the biggest night of his career when meeting Josh Padley (18-1, 6 KOs) for the European junior lightweight title at the Sheffield Arena. DAZN will broadcast the action.
"I've not been in any hard fights. I’ve got no miles on the clock and basically turning pro again. I feel like I'm more experienced than Padley," Fiaz told The Ring.
"I was 19 when Matchroom signed me. I feel like my career's been a bit stop-start and my personal life has been a bit sad, but now is the time for the story to flip."
Fiaz has finally found peace. Now far more settled in his home life, the seven-year pro has also begun to take his religion seriously. If he has changed as a man over the years, the same can be said for his fighting.
A talented amateur, he was still a teenager when Jamie Moore bought him into camp to help Carl Frampton prepare for his December 2018 world title fight with the relentless Josh Warrington.
The following year, it was time for him to burst onto the scene himself.
In just his second fight he beat the tough Ben Fields – an opponent who took great pride and pleasure in upsetting young prospects – before attracting hundreds of friends and fans to Oldham sports center for a supposedly routine bout against the then 0-1 Daniel Alder.
Caught up in a wild atmosphere, Fiaz left his boxing brain in the dressing room and had to pick himself up off the floor to beat Alder.
It was exciting but unsustainable.
"When I came in the gym as a fresh faced 18 year old, I started sparring, fighting and putting it all over everyone. Jamie said, 'Look Aqib, you can't fight like that. You're gonna be retired by the time you're 26,'" Fiaz said with a laugh.
"He taught me defense and how to move, to box on the back foot and how to look after myself in dangerous situations. I'll thank him for that forever. I'm still good looking and ready to put all that experience to work."
Fiaz knows that many will write him off this weekend based upon his last step up in class. He was still living in a whirlwind outside the gym when Reece Bellotti inflicted an eighth-round stoppage defeat in October 2023.
"I was 22 and very green," he said. "I'm older now, a father and married man. I'm more assertive in myself and a man now, plainly and simply."
If Fiaz has spent the past two years rebuilding and growing, Padley has seen his own profile explode.
The 30-year-old is most widely known for boarding a last-minute flight to Saudi Arabia and boxing Shakur Stevenson for the WBC lightweight title in February 2025.
Before stepping in to the ring with the pound-for-pound star, he scored an excellent win over Mark Chamberlain and, since he has dropped down to junior lightweight, beaten Bellotti and won the 130-pound European title.
Saturday's challenger is determined to remind people why he was once seen as the future star.
"This is my fight to take. I just feel like I've kind of been forgotten about a little bit, and you know what? They'll be sorry," he said.
"If this fight had happened two years ago, everyone would have been like, 'It's a nice little tune-up fight for Aqib.'
"All credit to him but since then [Stevenson] he's had a close decision win against Bellotti, albeit a guy that beat me when I was 22. I was well ahead in that fight, Padley was behind ... he could have lost and a lot of people said he should have.
"I don't read too much into it. We're gonna get in there, and I think from the first bell people will be shocked, and he’ll be one of them."
Padley - 129.4lbs