Fight For Your Life

About the book

'Very open and honest' talkSPORT

Some people are born to be sports stars. I wasn't one of them. I was born to be . . . actually what was I born to be? Probably, like most Asian kids growing up in the late Nineties, a doctor, or a teacher. At a push I might have been a cricketer. A boxer? Come off it! No Asian lad did that sort of thing.

Hanging up my gloves has given me the opportunity to reflect not just on my career but on who I am and the kind of person I want to be. Whoever that is, I just hope they get a few less slaps to the face!

Boxing has only ever been part of the storyline. Whether it be death threats from Al-Qaeda, gunpoint robbery, family fallouts, marriage to a New York socialite, three kids, a reality show, a money pit wedding hall, or walking through a flood and earthquake devastated Pakistan, I'm struggling to think of a quiet day. That means a lot of lessons hard-learned - and you'll notice that I try to pass a few on here.

I've become a teacher after all!