Fighters like Masood Abdulah (10-0, 7 KOs) have two ways of making their name in the sport. They can either keep winning by any means necessary until their claims become impossible to ignore, or they can slowly build a fanbase by fighting in an exciting, crowd-pleasing manner.
So far, Abdulah has managed to cover both bases, but the unbeaten featherweight can give his career a major shot in the arm this weekend when he fights Scotland’s George Stewart (7-0, 1 KO) for the Commonwealth title in London.
The dangerous Abdulah wants to win but will go about it in his usual all-action manner.
“He’s a nice guy,” Abdulah said of Stewart in an interview with Queensberry. “Hopefully we have a good fight, but my biggest concern is that I hope I perform well and hopefully give the fans a good fight.
“I don’t care about the fight or anything like that. I just care about impressing my coaches and being able to do what they tell me to do or what we’ve been working on to be able to pull it off on the night. That’s my biggest concern. That’s what I care about.
“I have a feeling he’s going to try and stay away for a little bit. He’s going to try and keep his distance and keep me at bay. Eventually, I’ll hunt him down and eventually I’ll get to my target. When I do, let’s see how he deals with it.”
At the moment, Abdulah’s fellow featherweights find him very easy to ignore. The 30-year-old is strong, aggressive and heavy-handed, and whilst beating him may earn them respect within the industry, it would do little to boost their profile. Collecting the Commonwealth title would move Abdulah to within striking distance of the major domestic titles, and suddenly the reward for beating him would become much more worthy of the risk.
At Wednesday’s press conference, Abdulah spoke about wanting to move on quickly, mentioning a showdown with Isaac Lowe in Saudi Arabia as a potential next step.
“I’ve got ideas and plans. I need to bring it to reality,” Abdulah said. “That’s my objective now. I want to develop, grow, get more titles, get more money, get more recognition and move up.
“I’m going to be honest – not to critique him too much – I feel like I’m above him. I feel like he’s been overcooked a little too long. He hasn’t done too much. The best he’s done is, I think, drew for the British title twice. We’ll see.”
John Evans has contributed to a number of well-known publications and websites for over a decade. You can follow John on X @John_Evans79