Bilal Fawaz on fighting for his life and against deportation

'The kid from the tough background' is a standard boxing tale. Yet even in a sport awash with unresolved trauma, light-middleweight debutant Bilal Fawaz's story stands out as he prepares to finally make his pro debut next month.

Born in Nigeria in 1988 to a mother from Benin and a Lebanese father, his early life was difficult.

«My mum had emotional problems,» reflects Fawaz. «She maltreated me and beat me, sometimes very badly.»

At just eight years old, his father, who he saw rarely, took Fawaz from his mother's care and placed him with an uncle. Fawaz began lifting home-made weights and fashioned a punchbag from an old rice sack, which his aunt made him take down before he could get much use from it.

He recalls learning to drive at the tender age of 11 and taking family and friends to church every week. Then, at 14, Fawaz was suddenly informed he would be flying to London to reunite with his dad.

«I was excited,» he says. «To come to London, such a cool city, to live with my father.»

But the excitement did not last long. «After landing I was taken to a large house and was instructed to wait there until my dad arrived, but he never came,» Fawaz adds.

For several months, the bewildered teenager was imprisoned in the house, in a form of modern-day slavery. The residents forced him to clean the kitchen and perform other chores and over time, it became clear he was a victim of international child trafficking.

«I was not allowed to go out, I couldn't go to school, it was terrible,» says Fawaz. «But what could I do?»

He began finding ways to sneak out undetected until one day he took the plunge.

«I ran without stopping,» Fawaz recalls. «Eventually I had run so far that I couldn't find my way back, even if I wanted to.»

Finally free