Ijaz Ahmed will be reacquainted with a familiar foe y when the Birmingham-based boxer takes on long-time rival Quaise Khademi for the fourth time writes Jack Heather.The pair will once again contest the vacant British and Commonwealth super-flyweight titles at the iconic York Hall in London on March 3.
Ahmed and Khademi have fought three times previously with the former Midlands champion, ‘Jazzy’, claiming an unexpected victory in their first meeting via majority decision. But the judges have been unable to split them in their second and third encounters, a decision the BCB promotions-managed fighter strongly disagrees with, he said “I am kind of upset that I am having to go back there anyways because I am very confident that I know, as well as he does, that deep down inside he has lost all three of those fights.“I know I have won all of those fights, but you know he is the favourite, and they want him to succeed. “But I was never going to go there for the loss, I was always there to win which is what they obviously overlooked in that first fight when I went to London and beat him in his backyard.”
Khademi was deducted a point for excessive holding in the ninth round of their most recent fight and Ahmed hopes that the officials will keep on top of any similar tactics from his opponent this time around.
He said “It was upsetting that the referee didn’t step in earlier in that fight and even after he got the point deducted, he kept on doing it in the last three rounds and still they didn’t take any points off him and then on top of that, giving it a draw, I really don’t understand how they could see the fight being a draw.
“It was nowhere near a draw regardless of them taking that point off because it was me pushing the fight the whole way through, I was on the front foot, and he was running the whole fight, any neutral fan or boxing judge would tell you who won that fight.”
The 29-year-old from Bordesley Green has now shared 34 rounds with his compatriot but he is determined to ensure their fourth encounter is also their last. “It has basically been two years where I have been in a stalemate, stuck in the same position with the same guy”, he said. “If it was a fair world out there, we would not be having this conversation, but these decisions do happen, and boxing is corrupt in so many ways but hopefully I will get the victory this time around and will be coming back with that British title.”
Ahmed fights out of the BCB gym in Wednesbury. He said “It is like a family, everyone is pushing each other in there, everyone wants to be a champion and there are no egos where one person thinks they are better than the others. “It is just that everyone is there to do a job and push each other on and make sure we are getting the rounds in and getting the training done.”
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