ADAM AZIM boxed only twice in 2024 but the 22-year-old has hailed it as a year of personal development which started with Enock Poulsen and ended with Harry Potter.
In keeping with every year of his professional career to date, Azim has once again had to put a line through any Christmas or New Year plans due to a scheduled fight in February.
This time, it is the formidable Kazakh Sergey Lipinets in his way and victory in the headline fight at Wembley Arena on February 1 will undoubtedly open the door to the higher reaches of the super-lightweight division.
And while he is stealthily working on his craft under the tutelage of Shane McGuigan at his Leyton gym, Azim’s growth into what he describes as a ‘boxing brand’ has also involved putting his feet up back at home and settling down to a nice book.
“I’m still only 22 but I’m developing and maturing as a man,” Azim tells Boxing News.
“I’m doing things outside my comfort zone like I’ve started to read books now. I’ve been reading Harry Potter because I want to get better at English, for interviews and everything else. I’m working on my media stuff, too. It’s good to do this sort of stuff because you want to be a very good fighter but also a very good talker. You want to be a good representative outside the ring.
“I’d only read a couple of books before but my media trainer suggested I go out and read some books. Harry Potter was first up. I’m not really comfortable reading so now when I do it will better my English which will helps my interviews and media stuff.
“I’m on the first Harry Potter book, I’m about 50 pages in and I’m starting to get engaged with the book now. It’s kind of hard for me but I’m trying to suss it out in my head as well. I’m doing all this stuff to try and become a better boxing brand. I’m a very good boxer but I want to be a very good talker, too.”
At only 22 and at 12-0 with nine quick, there is no doubt that Azim’s brand is heading in the right direction. An ankle injury this year, however, checked his progress and taught him a new lesson in resilience.
“To be honest, when I don’t fight I actually get depressed,” he explains. “All I want to do is fight so when I’m sitting at home doing nothing I get depressed because I don’t know what to do. For my head, I really just need to fight as soon as possible. I had an ankle injury but I still tried to stay as active as possible. I also watched a lot of boxing.
“I think 2024 has been a frustrating year but because of that it has been a good year for me. I had the injury that put me out for quite a while so I had to learn how to handle that. Overall, I think I’ve grown from that frustration. In my head now I know all of this happens for a reason. In February I got the knockout victory but I knew there were a lot of changes I needed to make. So it was a good thing it happened because I had time to make the changes.
“I wanted three or four fights this year but I only got two. But everything happens for a reason. I did change a lot of stuff from that first camp of the year and it paid off. My performance in the last fight was unbelievable and now I need to keep performing every time like that.”
Reading wizard fiction was one major change but Azim is guarded when asked to explain what else was included in his overhaul following February’s victory over Poulsen.
“I can’t really talk about it because it’s very personal,” he says. “But I knew there were a lot of changes I had to make outside the gym. I did that so now I know what the system is for the next couple of camps.
“It’s all about more dedication, grafting, listening and maturity. That’s a real key thing, maturity. As a fighter, maturity is one of the key ingredients you need to have. Then other stuff like my inside game, my footwork, hand defences. There were a lot of things I needed to change but I feel like I have now.”
And with what seems like a pivotal year in his career about to start, the new system could not have been timed any better. Although his last opponent, Ohara Davies, had challenged for a version of the world title before, you could argue that Lipinets represents the first real world level opponent of Azim’s career to date.
“He’s a great fighter,” the Slough man agrees. “He’s a former world champion who has fought the likes of [Jaron] Boots [Ennis], Mikey Garcia and Lamont Peterson. I know he’s coming to win. I’ve got to be on my game so hopefully I get the knockout victory that I want. It’s all about making statements and a knockout on February 1 would be just that.”
It was back in April that Azim decided to vacate the European title instead of fulfilling his mandatory obligations by facing the then British and Commonwealth champion Dalton Smith. Then, despite posing for a face-off to help promote the potential fight, an anticipated showdown with another Brit, Harlem Eubank, also failed to materialise. It means 2024 might go down as a year remembered for the fights that did not happen as much as the ones that did – but Azim is determined to set the record straight now.
“My first goal is to win the IBO title by beating Lipinets,” Azim says, when asked to outline how the perfect 2025 would look.
“But then I want the Harlem Eubank fight. Let’s see if he takes it. Harlem is scared to fight me. I don’t know what has been up with him. He’s the one who messed everything up. If he wants the fight I’m here. He can come see me.
“Then, who knows, maybe this is the year I get the Dalton Smith fight and I can knock him out cold.”
Before any of that, however, Azim must take care of the toughest test of his career to date, and also manoeuvre his way through the rest of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The chances are that his New Year plans, much like the rest of his stable mates, will include a few pages of a novel before an early night with training scheduled as normal on January 1.
“This year, it will probably just be me in my bed at 9pm so I can wake up fresh the next day,” he says. “That’s probably what it is for me this year. We will all be in the gym on New Year’s Day anyway so that helps. We have our own bubble like that.
“Ellie Scotney and Caroline Dubois are both in world title fights next too so we are all in that bubble in the gym sticking to the same process. It’s a big few months for the gym, Shane has three consecutive world title fights. We all drive each other on in the gym and I know If I have a great training camp and stay dedicated then I will win.
“That’s what I want. This year was about learning but next year is all about winning.”
