"On Sunday, a passenger might glance at the driver in the rear view mirror and ask the usual: "Good weekend, mate? Get up to much?" For 37-year-old Bilal Fawaz, the answer could be a little different than the usual traffic complaints or remarks about the drizzle. "I became a British champion. And then I drove this Uber," he plans to say, using the same casual tone he might use to discuss a bottleneck on the North Circular."
"In boxing, the story of the 'working-class hero' - the athlete who still clocks in for a nine-to-five - is a great marketing hook. But for Fawaz, there is no romanticism in the grind. 'I'm an Uber driver. I'm a personal trainer. I'm a fitness instructor. And I'm a professional boxer. That's four jobs,' he tells BBC Sport in fight week."
"'I was doing Uber the day I came here. I trained clients before I left London. I pay for the car on a subscription every week and if I don't work, money goes out and nothing comes in. So on Sunday after the fight, when the kids are asleep, I'll jump in the car, make 70 or 80, park it, sleep, drop them to nursery and train clients again.'"
Bilal Fawaz is a 37-year-old professional boxer who also works as an Uber driver, personal trainer and fitness instructor, juggling four jobs to survive. He challenges Ishmael Davis in Nottingham for the British light-middleweight title while continuing paid work to cover weekly car subscription costs and family needs. He trains clients around shifts, drives after fights and drops children at nursery before returning to work. His background includes a childhood marked by abuse and time in the care system, and he remains an English champion still without a passport. He presents with poise shaped by time at acting school.
Read at www.bbc.com
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