From Sudan to Portsmouth: Boxing brothers aiming to become world champions

National World - Broadcast Video

Meet the Ahmed brothers, from Sudan, who came to the UK in their youth and dream of becoming world champion boxers.

Transcript

00:00 This is Ahmed in the ring in 2014, one of the youths who trained up against someone

00:07 completely unexpected.

00:08 I'd look on the internet and I could see that the guy was all with dogs and then I

00:14 spoke to another coach and he told me every time he throws his jab he drops his left hand.

00:19 So we went on that and they said, "Ahmed's got this victory," so it was good.

00:25 Hello, this is Adam's brothers, Ahmed Adam and Walid Adam, a professional boxer.

00:43 Our background is we were born in Sudan and grew up in Poznan.

00:49 We trained in boxing since 2012, so we want to be a world champion.

00:58 We want to bring the championships in our home, Poznan.

01:07 We're from Sudan, we've been living in the UK for 10 years now, we've been doing

01:12 boxing for about 10 years as well, so pretty much we've been doing it for decades.

01:18 We had a really good amateur career, my brother and I finally decided to start professional.

01:24 We after winning good amateur titles and stuff like that, so right now we're very excited

01:30 on our professional journey.

01:44 It was tough, especially when I was saying language barriers, it was like when you go

01:50 to countries or different countries, if you don't speak their language, it's difficult

01:56 to communicate or get along with the people and stuff like that.

02:01 What was it like, so you say you first came to the UK, obviously you say it was a completely

02:06 alien country, what was your first impressions?

02:10 What do you remember of that moment?

02:12 At the moment it was like, man, as soon as we landed in the UK, the weather was different.

02:24 The weather was different, it was cold, it was during the wintertime we came, you know?

02:29 It was raining, cold.

02:30 It was raining, cold.

02:31 As soon as we landed, as soon as we got out of the building, it was raining.

02:36 It was raining all day.

02:37 We were like, when is it going to stop?

02:42 It was like, it will never stop in the UK.

02:49 The weather was really different and obviously the things as well.

02:53 Obviously what we found was there are a lot of opportunities here as well.

02:58 If you want to do anything in your life, if you have something that you want to do in

03:01 your life as well, you can do it in this country.

03:05 That's when we realised as well, for example, even if you went to schools or colleges or

03:10 even after college you go to uni, they will help you and stuff like that.

03:14 That's a lot of opportunities.

03:15 A lot of people, when they come to the UK, that's what they're looking for.

03:21 That's when we realised as well that we've got a lot of opportunities and we realised

03:26 that we had to do something in our life as well.

03:28 That's the reason that Awad brought us from over here.

03:32 I think he left us when I was around six, but I can't really remember the age that he

03:37 left us.

03:38 So obviously he's been around, he's been to the UK, he's been living in the UK for like

03:43 10 more, nearly 15 years now, or even more, 15 years, I'm not really sure.

03:48 Then obviously he brought us, he done some papers, he brought us over here, the whole

03:52 family and stuff like that, to have a better life.

03:56 The ultimate goal is to be the best in the sport.

04:00 I always wanted to be a professional athlete.

04:04 I did school, I did college, and I finished college.

04:08 The time to go to uni, I'm like, I have to have a break.

04:13 I have to do something that someone has never done.

04:17 So why can't I be the first person ever to make history?

04:24 I chose boxing because boxing disappeared.

04:27 In Sudan, we don't have, Sudan is like the fourth country, number four biggest country

04:36 in Africa, I think.

04:38 And we don't have even one boxer that represents the country in the world.

04:45 So I'm like, I want to be one of them.

04:50 I chose boxing to be a professional athlete and represent my country, British as well,

04:59 Pompeii as well, to make proud of my family, myself as well.

05:04 I want to be one of the first man to be world champion.

05:12 I can say British champion, European champion, and world champion.

05:16 That's the ultimate goal.

05:19 So I want to make both countries proud of.

05:24 Our goal, about the family, where we come from, and stuff like that.

05:27 So that was really, that's one of our motivations.

05:31 That was one of the things that pushed us to start boxing as well.

05:34 Because when you come from a bad background, having a really bad background, and stuff

05:40 like that, you always have to remember where you come from.

05:44 That will always push you to achieve your goals.

05:48 One of the difficulties was obviously, things were not good at all, the living situation.

05:53 And obviously, we had, obviously, the jobs were difficult as well.

05:59 And sometimes, obviously, if you had one meal breakfast, you don't know when is your next

06:05 meal next.

06:06 That's very difficult too.

06:08 It was tough, like I said.

06:12 It was about only the jobs, and the living.

06:18 It was difficult.

06:19 And obviously, we had a lot of fights over there.

06:23 There were a lot of fights going on there as well.

06:26 So that's where we are.

06:27 We've always been disciplined as well.

06:29 As soon as we started, we were disciplined.

06:31 And obviously, our parents, they taught us well as well.

06:34 Obviously, the parenting was really good as well.

06:36 So obviously, at home, when we came to the UK, our dad taught us what's good in the

06:42 UK, and we told him everything about the situation in the UK.

06:45 You know, what should we be doing and not be doing, and stuff like that.

06:49 What good and not good things.

06:51 So as soon as we started, we listened to our dad, and we don't drink, we don't smoke,

06:57 or we don't do anything like that.

06:59 That will actually, and that's discipline as well.

07:02 Do you know what I'm saying?

07:03 And you said, as an older brother, are you keeping him in check more, or is he keeping

07:07 you in check more?

07:08 I would say him.

07:10 [laughter]

07:12 No, always, I want him to do better than me.

07:16 You know what I mean?

07:18 Because he's my brother, he's a young brother.

07:20 And I do train hard, but I want him to train more than me.

07:25 Because I want him to be the best.

07:28 He won a couple of national championships, and I myself, I won the national championships

07:37 and the English champions, like five, me, all like nine, ten times champions.

07:43 So we did good, very good in Amateur, now we're 10th pro.

07:46 So now with Jamie, we want to be champions, not just like a pre-pitch champion, European

07:52 champion.

07:52 We want to be like a proper champion, world champion.

07:55 So that's the reason.

07:57 So we're lucky that we have a good team, very good team.

08:01 The coach, Colin, Colin Millen is a very good coach.

08:04 Not just the coach, like as a man, when we need help, he just help us.

08:11 You know what I mean?

08:11 He's a good person.

08:12 We work part-time and then train full-time.

08:16 Even we want to stay in training, like full-time training.

08:22 It's like train, eat, sleep, repeat, the same thing.

08:27 We don't want to miss the security stuff, but we're looking for the sponsors.

08:33 Main thing, main goal is to be the champion, make the city proud, make the city proud,

08:38 make Sudanese people, community proud, country proud.

08:43 Even obviously my family, I want to make my family more proud.

08:48 You know what I mean?

08:49 So I want to help my family as well as whatever they want to dream, if they want to buy a

08:55 house or a car, I want them to have like free everything in their life, what they dream

09:03 for.

09:03 That's the goal, my goal.

09:05 I was praying to God, you know, God please help us, help us to find someone to help us

09:11 to improve.

09:12 I was praying, I was praying, I was praying, I was training.

09:15 I posted a video, that wasn't even me, that was Walid's video, you know, I just shared

09:22 from his Instagram.

09:24 What's the matter, you asked him?

09:24 That was his video, he was training.

09:26 I support him a lot, you know, I don't even support myself that much as I support him.

09:31 You know, he posted on his Instagram, I did the, I just shared to my Instagram, I put

09:38 in my story and Colin saw that he was doing pushups, I mean pull-ups and chin-ups and

09:44 I'm worried, I mean, what Colin texted me and said, "Ahmad, when are you fighting?"

09:48 I'm like, oh, I'm not even, you know, I'm not in Amisha, I'm not fighting in Amisha

09:53 anymore.

09:54 And he said, "Are you temporal?"

09:56 I'm like, no, I'm not temporal.

09:58 He said, "Why not?"

09:59 He said, "Ah, you know, it's a bit complicated because I need help, you know, I told my former

10:05 coach and he said he's going to help me but he's not helping me, I'm not, you know,

10:10 finding someone to help me to temporal, so I don't know what to do."

10:14 He said, "Oh, I can help you."

10:16 I'm like, oh, thank God.

10:18 The soon he said, "I can help you," that's when my stress released.

10:22 That's when you're trying to…

10:23 Oh, relief, man, I'm like, thank God, you know, I'm like, thank God, honestly, I'm

10:28 so happy, I'm not, that night I didn't even sleep because of happiness, man.

10:33 Because he said, "I will help you, come to my house," because there was, you know,

10:38 there was an event in Ramadan, he said, "Come to my house, I have like a space, you can

10:44 train in my house."

10:46 The boys have had a really tough time, but I think for their determination and their

10:51 willpower and their will to win, they will get to, you know, they will become champions.

10:57 The boys train really hard.

10:59 I've never met a couple of boys like it, really, they don't drink, they don't smoke.

11:04 You know, on a Monday morning at eight o'clock on the track, it's not nice because the

11:09 boys do security, so they work late.

11:11 And it's quite hard, we do that, we do like 12, 400 metres.

11:15 And I'll time in between each run to make sure we're better, and then, like I was

11:20 saying before, we do the gym work.

11:22 But it is hard, but I think with the boys, it's what you put into it.

11:27 I think all these boys want to do is if they can raise enough money for the boxing, so

11:33 they can find somewhere nice for their mum and dad to live.

11:35 If we could find some sponsors who could help us, so the boys could fulfil their dreams.

11:40 It's quite a lot of hard work, but I believe the boys will get there in the end.

11:46 But like I say, time will tell, but, you know, I think the boys will do well.

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