Raza battles through pain for lopsided win

Raza with his new team...Spencer McCracken Jnr and Snr

RAZA Hamza, one time golden boy of Birmingham boxing, exorcised some of the demons following a disastrous British title bid with comfortable, clear cut victory on Saturday night.

The 31-year-old came back from what he described as a “very, very dark place” to win every session of his six rounder against Lovepreet. Chris Dean scored 60-54.

Raza didn’t come through the bout, at Birmingham Airport’s Holiday Inn, unscathed. The Handsworth Wood favourite had to use ring smarts to dominate after suffering a torn left bicep in the second. That prevented him from throwing forceful jabs, that will keep him out for some weeks.

“Every time I threw the left hand I was in agony,” Raza said. “The pain was horrendous. I had to use my boxing brain. My trainer (Spencer McCracken Jnr) said, ‘use your experience, box him, you are going to come through adversity in this fight’.

“If it wasn’t for the bicep, he would’ve been smoked. But I got the job done, I stayed composed, won comfortably.”

Before that handicap, Raza seemed destined to halt a hungry opponent who had notched up five straight wins in India before finding fighting life much more difficult here. He came to the Holiday Inn with a winning record – 5-2 – and he came for the upset, but was too raw for a smooth operator such as Hamza.

Physically, Raza was a very different beast to the one blown away in under a round by Nathaniel Collins for the British featherweight title 12 months ago.

He weighed in as a full-blown light-welter – a stone heavier than his championship days - and was on the welterweight limit when he stepped through the ropes.

“I’m 31, I’m 5ft 11ins, I’m a 10 stone boy,” Raza said. “I should’ve moved up in weight three or four years ago, but kept thinking, ‘I can make it one more time’.

“I’m healthier, one look at my skin tells you that.”

Frankly, I’d forgotten how comfortable Hamza is when holding court with the media. I sometimes struggle to get a shorthand notebook page of quotes from young boxers. Raza filled five.

Lovepreet was hurt by body shots before injury forced Hamza to radically change tactics. He  pick-pocketed points rather than look for power punches.

For Hamza, a man who ran up a seven year, 18 fight unbeaten run before tasting defeat, yesterday’s result wasn’t total redemption. It was a happy return.

“All my people came out,” he said. “For six months I was in a very, very dark place and only a few people around me know what I was going through. For me, it’s never been about winning, it’s about how I win. It wasn’t just the loss, it was how I lost.”

In the early years, when big things beckoned, Hamza was quick to predict a glowing, golden future. In maturity, he’s more measured.

“In boxing, you make plans but nothing goes to plan,” he added. “It just happens. All I’ll say is that I’m loving boxing again. If the opportunity comes, I’ll take it, but it’s one step at a time.”

The first step was taken at the humble boxing setting of the Holiday Inn.