Boxer Kid Galahad & the Elvis Presley Connection!

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

On July 15th, one kid shall climb into the ring to continue his redemption and what he believes is his ascent towards his destiny – a world title.

It has been a long and arduous road and his name does not meet with universal support within or outwith the boxing community. His abilities, however, are not only serious they make him a very serious prospect in his hunt to become a world champion, possibly as early as in 2018.

Qatari born, Abdul-Bari Awad or as he is better known, Kid Galahad, 22-0, 13 KO’s of Sheffield, came to the UK as a child, following the Gulf War, grew up on tough streets and has served one ban, for the use of illegal substances. He is also the former British, Commonwealth and European bantamweight title holder. These two facts mean he divides opinion as to his right to climb into a ring as well as the expectations we all have when he does so.

His ring name, chosen for him by his trainer Brendan Ingle, is after a film character played by Elvis Presley and his life is one which could well end up being the legend of filmmakers as his early life was a tough one. From a young age, he was becoming acutely that he had to find some kind of outlet for his fists as he was in the right lane for the wrong future – one of prison and gang warfare. He took his warrior spirit into Brendan Ingle’s gym at the suggestion of another Sheffield native – Prince Naseem Hamed – who was a hero of his. It may have taken his mum about an hour to find the Ingle gym but it was the best hour she ever spent in a car.

In 2009, Galahad made his first appearance as a professional and beat a journey man for whom I have great affection – Delroy Spencer. Spencer was the guy who was out working with the best and the defeat on points he suffered at the hands of Galahad would have been very good learning for the young prospect in front of him.

By 2012 Galahad was ready for his first title and in his 10th professional fight he took on Jason Booth for the WBC international super bantamweight championship. His star was very much in the ascendency.

Following that win his fights started to be against much better opponents and defending the WBC title successfully against Josh Wale was followed by winning the British title against James Dickens. Sergio Prado was dispensed with for the European belt before he took the vacant Commonwealth title after Fred Munraby retired after 4 rounds of action against him.

He then won the IBF Youth super bantamweight tile against Adeilson Dos Santos by unanimous decision and it seemed there would only be one thing stopping him from reaching world honors – himself.

For some that self-destructive path arrived in May 2015 when he was banned for 2 years after failing a drug test with stanozolol, an anabolic steroid in his system. He continues to protest his innocence though many on the circuit called for him to be banned for life. There were a few including Scott Quigg and Carl Frampton who had very harsh words for the young lad but he sucked it up but appealed.

Galahad was backed both by his coach, Ingle and many others within the sport including Tyson Fury, who were clear that the reason given by Galahad, that his drink had been spiked, was utterly true. The amount found in his system was also so low that it was hard to measure so many thought his punishment – a two year ban – severe and harsh. It meant that few were surprised when the appeal was not wholly unsuccessful as his ban had already been backdated but was now cut by six months so he got back in the ring on the April 30th, 2016.

With such a lengthy absence, it was clear he was not going to be fighting for a world title any time soon. Now over a year later he has a clearer path in front of him.

Back on the treadmill of world title honors he will face the very tough Mexican, Jose Cayetano, 21-5, 10 KO’s, for vacant IBF Inter-Continental featherweight title.

For Galahad redemption shall come, not just from winning against Cayetano but also at the cost of taking on some of the guys who domestically called him a cheat. Cayetano was stopped in the 9th round by Quigg so can at least measure his progress against that yard stick before getting into the mix with such domestic exalted company that he wants to target for some kind of real redemption.

Ironically Cayetano was not his scheduled opponent. That was Dennis Ceylan but Ceylan tested positive for cocaine so was unable to fulfill that obligation!

The result of any boxing match is always in doubt – eh Manny – but we can be sure that Galahad has some kind of future in the sport and may be knocking on the doors of some high level opposition either in the UK or elsewhere. His name may be Las Vegas, his abilities are certainly not out of place in a ring in Las Vegas and his future, should some of his UK based opponents not fancy him may also be over that way too.

He fights on the ITV pay per view undercard which has Arthur Abraham and Chris Eubank, JR. headlining so if you have a chance to tune in you should be in for a bit of a treat.

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