Hennessy Sports: Boxing Solicitor Out To Tame “Wild Thing”

Boxing solicitor Zahid Kahut is warning Earl Ling to beware of the long arm of the law when they clash at the Norfolk Showground, Norwich on February 28 on the undercard of Jon Thaxton’s first defence of his European title.

The Hennessy Sports show will see Thaxton feature live on ITV4 as he aims to take a step closer to a world title shot by seeing off the challenge of French champion Anthony Mezaache. Kahut and Ling will be aiming to progress their own careers in a cruiserweight dust up on the undercard.

Local cult hero Ling calls himself the “Wild Thing” and makes no secret about his brushes with the law in the past but solicitor Kahut, who divides his time between the courtroom and the famous Ingle gym in Sheffield, says the Norwich man is “going down”.

“I’m expecting him to come out fast but I think once I’ve weathered the early storm then I’ll come on strong and I’d expect to stop him in the third or fourth,” claimed the unbeaten 6 foot 6 southpaw, who was born in Pakistan.

“I’m growing in confidence all the time and I believe as long as I stay busy and keep improving in the gym there’s no reason why I can’t look for a British title shot. When I came into boxing, my goal was to have just one pro fight but now that I’ve accomplished that, I want to keep setting new goals for myself.

“I take inspiration from what a guy like Johnny Nelson achieved with the Ingles. When he came to them, he never imagined that one day he would be a world champion but he went on to do just that.”

Kahut has taken an unlikely route into the world of boxing, crediting chat show legend Michael Parkinson with inspiring him to don a pair of boxing gloves for the first time.

“I’d always been a boxing fan from when I was very young. I used to love watching old Muhammad Ali fights and I was also a big fan of Mike Tyson in his early days. I never actually thought about taking up boxing though, I was mainly into sports like snooker, tennis and cricket and I played all of them to a decent standard.

“What actually convinced me to start boxing myself was when I watched an old interview that Michael Parkinson did with Ali. Parkinson was questioning Joe Bugner’s right to challenge Ali and Ali replied by asking Parkinson if he had ever boxed himself. When Parkinson said no, Ali said that if he’d never stepped in a ring, how could he question Bugner’s right to challenge him?

“I remember watching it and thinking, I’m the same, here I am a boxing fan with an opinion on every fight but I’d never got in the ring either. I decided to give it a go and see what it was all about so I headed down to the local amateur club and within 2 months I’d had my first fight.

“I had 11 amateur fights total and I won 7 of them but I had to give it up because I was studying for my law degree at the time and I had other things going on in my life so the boxing had to take a back seat.”

However after settling into life as a solicitor Kahut decided to return to the sport and give the pro game a shot. “I always had aspirations of having a pro fight and when I was able to get in to a 9 to 5 routine with my job, it left me time to train in the mornings and evenings, so I decided to turn pro with the intention of having just one fight.

“On my debut, I fought Scott Mitchell. I was brought in as the opponent and they had high hopes for him, but I won that one and then I thought why not keep going and see how far I can go in the sport?”

Now Kahut says he wants to extend his unbeaten run to four straight wins with a win over Ling. “I don’t know too much about him but I’m told he’s a tough guy who likes to come forward, but that suits me because I’m a counter puncher.

“Even before I joined the Ingle gym, I used to box in that style because I always tried to model myself on Naseem Hamed and how he threw his punches, like his corkscrew uppercut. I like to walk my opponents on to my punches and at 6 foot 6, I usually have a good reach advantage over my opponents, so Ling will definitely be feeling the long arm of the law!”

Featuring on the exciting undercard will be Danny McIntosh vs. Matthew Barney for the English Light Heavyweight title.

Also appearing are new heavyweight sensation Tyson Fury, Matthew Thirlwall, Lee Purdy, Steve O’Meara and making his pro debut, ABA Senior Featherweight Champion Bradley Evans.
Tickets for Kahut vs. Ling, which is part of the undercard of Jon Thaxton’s first European title defence at the Norfolk Showground, Norwich on February 28, are available from the Ticketline box office on 0844 888 4402 or via www.ticketline.co.uk.