There might not be many better performances in a British ring this year than the 12-round clinic put on by Shabaz Masoud in Birmingham against Liam Davies.
Beforehand, the heavy-punching Davies was talking about nearing a contest with Naoya Inoue, but he is now 16-1 (8 KOs) and left to pick up the pieces while Matchroom-promoted 14-0 (4 KOs) Masoud will kick on.
“Liam, he’s a great fighter. Top lad,” said “The Maverick”. “He was knocking everyone out in devastating fashion and everyone was saying this and that, but that brings the best out in me. I love it when I’m the underdog, so I was just thinking, ‘Okay, this is going to be my time to show my skills, my level, and it was a good night.’ Everything I worked on worked.”
It was a humbling night for Davies, the pre-fight favorite and the man with the momentum. That is something Masoud was aware of going into the fight, having boxed just twice in two years.
“Probably inactivity was one,” Masoud said, when asked why he’d been written off. “I’ve always been this level, but inactivity is one, plus I didn’t have the resume, compared to Liam, to show my actual level. He’s been knocking everyone out in top fashion. If I was a boxing fan I’d be thinking, ‘Wow, he’s good,’ but obviously I just believed in my skills and that I was going to do it.
“I was the B-side. I was speaking to my family about this the other day and not just saying it because it was myself, but name me the last time a Matchroom fighter or a fighter from another show has gone over to another side and dominated another guy at Liam’s level, who’s dominated a killer like that, because I can’t remember.”
Masoud impressed but doesn’t feel he has scratched the surface of what he is capable of. The fight was two weeks ago, and he is already wanting to go again.
As an emerging force in the camp of coach Ben Davison, Masoud has been told to enjoy his victory, some down time, and a victory lap.
“I appreciate all the kind words but at the same time, I got out the ring and got out the back and took my wraps off and I looked at Ben and Lee [Wylie] and said, ‘What can we work on? What’s next?’ And they said, ‘No, no, no. Enjoy this bit. Enjoy this bit. We’re going to speak in a week or two.’
“But my brain already says I want to get back in the gym. I keep on training at home and I keep doing my S and C and my runs and I’m always trying to improve. It’s just the start for me. I’ve had this mindset for a long time and I’m just getting better and better.
“I’m only 28 years old. I’ve just started developing as a man, my facial hair has finally come up the last couple of years, I’ve actually got a bit of muscle on me now, I genuinely think I’ve got a lot more to give, and people don’t realize I’m orthodox. I’m naturally orthodox. I’ve been boxing southpaw. I can go both ways, it just depends on my opponent. I can adapt to my opponent. I like both. If one’s working, why are you gonna change it?”
That is something he is always practising, and in a gym where the fighters push one another and where there is healthy competition and a support system encouraging them.
“Honestly, it’s a blessing to be in that team, cos everyone’s on the same mission, everyone wants the best for each other, and everyone’s killers in there,” Masoud explained. “The level of fighters there is crazy. Obviously, you’ve got AJ [Anthony Joshua], you’ve got Moses [Itauma], you’ve got Leigh Wood, Pat McCormack, Luke McCormack, Royston Barney-Smith, Alloys [Junior], Fabio Wardley’s always in there, it’s a blessing.”
Is it light-hearted, or all business?
“It’s a bit of both. Most of the lads, even if they haven’t got fight dates, they’re consistently in the gym trying to get better and better and better and that’s how I am. If one of the lads takes an ‘L’ or something, the whole team does feel it, because we all want everyone winning. That’s all that matters.”
Masoud won 43 of his 50 amateur bouts, capturing national titles and he was in and out of the Team GB set up, only to find himself at a stage of his life where he needed to make some money.
He had a conventional but difficult start to life in the pros, away from the bright lights and fanfare he is preparing to soon experience.
“I started the hard way, the small hall route, my first fight was on TV but I was 4.30pm opening bell, my second fight was in Stoke, then I was in little places like Middleton in Manchester. The first six, seven fights of my career were on small hall shows, just building up,” he recalled.
Masoud had twice beaten Davies in the amateurs, and they had sparred since, too. Despite many favoring Davies, and with him optimistically eyeing the likes of Inoue, Masoud doesn’t believe Davies overlooked him.
“I don’t think he did because he knows the level I can operate at,” Masoud added. “We’ve sparred countless times with each other, we’ve boxed each other, and he knows how good I am. And he was saying to me in the build-up, ‘This is the best I’ve ever been.’ Physically he looked really well, he looked strong. It’s just I was better. My IQ was better. My skills were better. And I got to show it on the night.”
He has not heard from his rival since. They have history, but Masoud said: “He’s a nice lad, we spoke after the fight… He was a killer, he was on a roll, knocking people out in devastating fashion.”
And despite the nature of his win, one judge – Marco Morales – felt Davies won. It was one of the worst scorecards of the year. Masoud has watched the fight back, giving himself a remit of being charitable, and he’s scored it either 9-3 or 10-2.
“A blind man could see that was never a split decision,” Masoud continued. “But, at the same time, I don’t know what… I genuinely believe that judges should be questioned and held accountable for certain situations like that.
“I was just like, ‘Are they going to actually do me?’ I’ve won nearly every round, but honestly, I had faith in God. That was the big thing that got me through. I was just relaxed and I was like, ‘No, this is my time. God knows it’s my time.’ And then they said, ‘And the new…”
“The way I dominated, I didn’t understand. I couldn’t [understand] and because my emotions were high, my adrenaline was going. It’s only until I watched it back, I was trying to score rounds for him, and I was thinking, ‘How the hell can you come to that decision?’ I’d love to sit with that judge and just ask, ‘What were you seeing? I want to understand.’ I’m a very logical person. A very logical thinker. It would be nice to just sit down and be like, ‘How do you come up with this?’ The general public said it as well, it’s not just me. ‘How do you come to that?’”
Masoud does not need to dwell on the errant card given his victory, particularly given his performance, but he knows what he needs moving forward and it’s not just to capitalize on the win but to keep far busier than he has been.
“You’re only as good as your last performance. I’ve never complained, I’ve just been accountable and got on with it,” he said.
“An active fighter is a top fighter. I need activity. My career has always been stop-start but I need activity. I’m only 14 fights in. This is what people don’t understand. That’s not a lot of fights. There are lads out there who have boxed 20 journeymen and are still coming through, I’m 14 fights in and I’m still young and I’m still developing.
“I’ve never been the kind of guy to call out names etc. I’ve just said to the team, ‘You lot pick the opponent, I’ve got to do my job.’ I’m not bothered who it is.”
He is eating clean and living the life. He’s calling his promoters and asking what is next and when is he going to fight again.
He will likely be rated highly across the governing body board now, although he is in a division run by one of the finest boxers in the world.
“I think he’s an incredible fighter. I watched him growing up as well,” Masoud said of Inoue. “But at the same time, I’m here chasing dreams and that’s what dreams are made of, fighting guys like that. I want to test myself against the best, so if it’s there it’s there.
“I think I’m ready now [for world class fighters], but that’s not my job to say. I’ve got smoke for everyone, so let’s go.”
Would he like a fight to measure himself against a former Inoue foe, like a TJ Doheny or a Luis Nery?
“No, because I’ve never believed in comparisons like that,” he went on. “I’ve always believed that styles make fights and it’s one of them. I believe you come across certain styles in fights, in sparring, in training, even boxing when you’re younger and you learn and adapt and you’ve got to have that mindset of learning and adapting, and I feel like I’m learning and developing and I feel like I could have gone through the gears more in that fight, but at the same time, if it’s working, and working a treat as well, why would you change?”
There are, clearly, no plans to change, nor is there any need. And Masoud again points out that there is no need for a prolonged absence from the ring.
“There’s no point taking the foot off the gas now,” he said.
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