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This Sunday John Harding Jr has a shot at the England middleweight title and Alen Babic continues to make his mark in heavyweight boxing
Both men will be on the Matchroom card in Milton Keynes which is titled by one of the world’s most promising prospects in Joshua Buatsi and Marko Calic, a man who has actually fought Babic four times in the amateur ranks. with two wins each
Harding Jr and Babic took it the hard way in boxing The sport hasn’t been an easy road for either man, but they found a guide in top UK heavyweight Dillian Whyte
The Body Snatcher has spent more than 1,000 days as the number one contender for the WBC heavyweight throne and will face Alexander Povetkin in a rematch of the Fight Camp Finals in November in a bid to regain that spot
But the 32-year-old also manages Harding Jr and Babic and gave them the chance to live their dreams
The first is Harding Jr, a 36-year-old who turned pro just three and a half years ago after three stints in prison
The South East London native now uses his voice to encourage others not to make the same mistakes as him and to inspire them to be the best version of themselves possible
A fire was lit under Harding Jr after he was told in prison that he was a ‘wasted talent’ and as he prepared for his second chance at the England middleweight title, this once against Linus Udofia, talkSPORT found out how Whyte had helped him on his journey
« To tell the truth, the first time we saw each other I was in the last six months of my prison sentence and working outside the prison
« But from the moment you’re done, awhile ago you must be back so I was walking fast and I passed and I say Dil
« And I remember the day before when I was standing in line for dinner, someone was talking about him on YouTube like ‘Oh my God, this guy beat Chisora, he’s crazy, he’s this, he’s that ‘- you know, inside we exaggerate stories like’ dude, he’s kinda crazy, this boy is next ‘[laughs]
« So we just looked at each other and nodded and we’re still talking about it. You might catch us joking about it »
« But there was one time when we were in a gym and he was there, Magic Mike was there and they offered to train me for four rounds
« He said » Do you want to work out? « I said ‘Yeah’ He jumped up and we sparred He called me as the [Joseph] Parker fight was announced, we were all going for a quick move and there was a time he and me were going. in the ring and everyone was just shocked that I was trading with him
« And that’s what got me noticed, I think it was my heart He saw something in me I took the time to be comfortable because I had a limited amateur experience, just to take it out in the ring
« I feel like I am finally at this crossroads where I am comfortable and I can benefit from my skills and my power, my heart »
« I’ve always loved boxing It was weird because I was trying and trying to stick with the amateur, but then I would go back to smoking and go back to doing these things and stop
« Then I said, you know what, I’m going to stick to that, I’m going to stick to amateur boxing Then I locked myself in, but I was going out on weekends these last six months
Come back to Portugal 🇵🇹 With the team @dillianwhyte @iqxaviermiller #trainingcamp let’s work !! No games !! @matchroomboxing
A post shared by John Harding Jr (@pestersuperstar) on Sep 15, 2020 at 1:54 pm PDT
« So every Friday I made sure to go out, train with Joshua Buatsi and that, Chris Kongo, then I would come back I always try to keep going, although once a month I just tried to continue
« It was a tough road, but God blessed me with powerful people around me who push me to be successful »
« I know a lot of people are probably looking at me and thinking ‘ah, you’re lucky you met this person [Dillian Whyte] », but I worked on my ass
« I was the person at the bottom of the pile watching everyone shine, watching everyone score their brilliant wins while I scratch It was so hard to wonder ‘when is it my time? «
5 years ago TODAY! I walked out of those doors with just a dream that seemed impossible Tagged not to be confidence and that it will only come back who would have thought this trip would lead to being on @skysportsboxing @matchroomboxing Songs broadcast on the radio, appearing in movies new friends and amazing people signed to another brother @dillianwhyte not to gloat about going to jail but to inspire you that you can be whatever you want to be if you believe in yourself and don’t do opinions your reality I did it now to prove your skeptics wrong inspiring #inspireothers
A post shared by John Harding Jr (@pestersuperstar) on Sep 11, 2020 at 12:18 am PDT
« I had a hard fight trying to break through, got shot because of my age, shot because of my experience and for someone to see me and say listen, if you can do this what you do by sparring in the ring, you are hell in the fight!
« Dill said to me, ‘Give me a job! I need you sometimes in sparring It’s just this transition and I think the transition is going to happen this Sunday
Alen ‘The Savage’ Babic got a lot of attention early in his career for the alter ego he has
He’s 4-0 with four knockouts With his mind-blowing personality and style, he’s always a sure-fire recipe to grab attention
It seems that with Dillian Whyte it was no different This Sunday he takes on Irishman Niall Kennedy and although Babic doesn’t look past the fight he is confident
« I’m going to do this fight, then in two weeks I’m going to head to Portugal I’m going to be with him all the time, every time he calls me He told me I would be on Whyte / Povetkin II so I hope and expect to be on the map
« Tom Little is my Instagram friend, that’s one thing [laughs], so I love Tom Little, but I also think you’re going to war and he’s not having fun he has a little wild side too.
« So I think it would be very interesting for the fans. The fans told me to fight Tom Little, so I started asking, his name came up and I think it would be a good fight »
Behind the scenes of the biggest fight of my life Look at all the successful people around me !? @dillianwhyte watching my fight despite having the biggest fight of his career just two hours away @tonybellew and @eddiehearn are backing me at ringside! I would have beaten the mighty Cronus himself that night I’m back in training and ready to put on another show for the fans Write me who are you gonna see vs. SAVAGE? ⬇️⬇️⬇️
A post shared by Alen « The Savage » Babić (@alenthesavagebabic) on Aug 26, 2020 at 7:51 am PDT
« I had just lost my national championship It was a terrible theft I don’t like amateur boxing It’s crap I don’t like it because of the judges, they never liked me
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« I had just lost my national final and I was in really bad shape I almost quit boxing because I was 10 years old in boxing and nothing happened [for me] I didn’t was nowhere
« The amateur career wasn’t even great I had a lot of wins, but I didn’t go to the world championships or anything I almost went to the Olympics but that’s my plus great feat, almost Olympian [laughs]
« But then Dillian asked me if I wanted to be his training partner Dillian weighed almost 130 kilos, I was 88 at the time He said ‘are you happy with that?’ said « Yes, let’s go »
« I went to sparring and I had five t-shirts and a big one [laughs] I cheated on him the first week He thought I was a heavyweight
« Then he saw me one day at lunch where I had nothing but a shirt and he said ‘where has Alen gone ?! « [laughs] That’s how we met and we’re continuing right away »
« Literally after our first fight [he wanted me] I’m an amateur boxer from Croatia I didn’t even know what pro meant I thought you had to pay a million dollars to fight or something like that I don’t know how it works
« Then he said, ‘You’re gonna fight in a week’ And I said ‘What a fight, Dillian? « He said ‘A fight, in a room! « I said I’m not a professional boxer and he was like ‘Oh s ***’ [laughs]
Big plans for the rest of the year « Corona » 💀 It’s never too early to call people, who wants it can get it! TBS @dillianwhyte / Team Savage #camp #whytepovetkin # 8rounds #sparring #war #fightnews #soon # 22 # portugal🇵🇹 #letsgoooooo
A post shared by Alen « The Savage » Babić (@alenthesavagebabic) on July 14, 2020 at 1:24 pm PDT
« So he said I had to pay for my boxing license and he took me home – he paid for it too – to get my license I went back three days, then back to England and then we flew to Rome! It was crazy
« He gave me the nickname ‘Savage’ after a workout He called me Savage and I didn’t really realize it, but he kept calling me ‘Savage, wild, wild « [laughs]
« I was like » Dillian, is that my nickname? « and he said » you’re a crazy b ***** « [laughs] I wanted to train him on a Sunday and he said, » go away and get some rest! » This is how it all started Watch both John Harding Jr and Alen Babic in action this Sunday (October 4) on Sky Sports for Buatsi V Calic from 7pm
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Boxing, Joshua Buatsi
World News – UK – Meet John Harding Jr and Alen ‘The Savage’ Babic – two boxers led by Dillian Whyte
