Shabaz Masoud stopped attending his university lectures to chase his dream of becoming a boxing world champion.
Masoud is considered one of the brightest young prospects in the country and holds a professional record of ten wins without defeat. The British-Asian star, who has teamed up with Tyson Fury's former coach Ben Davison, will face the toughest examination of his career to date when he meets undefeated rival Jack Bateson tonight.
But despite starting to really show glimpses of his supreme talent in his recent fights, Masoud's skills were already on some radars from the minute he tuned amateur. "I have a very good family who are very supportive of my career," Masoud told Mirror Fighting . "My dad did push me towards sport due to my talent and I am always grateful for that. When I was younger I turned to amateur and I just loved the sport."
Masoud decided to step up his pursuit of a career in boxing while studying for a degree in Sports Development - but with many of his university lectures at Staffordshire University clashing with his training, the 26-year-old was forced to make some tough decisions.
It was only after conversations with his lecturers that it became clear his ambition to chase a future in the ring was his priority. He said: "As I got a bit older I went to university where I was doing sports development and coaching, but I was missing lectures and seminars to go to training because I had a talent for it," Masoud added.
"I spoke to my lecturers and they said, 'You may as well chase your dreams and go after your career.' 'You are clearly motivated you have to chase your dreams' and I took their advice and it is the best thing I have ever done."
Masoud was struggling to balance his education alongside his sporting ambition and supporting himself on a meagre student budget didn't help - forcing Masoud to work on the tills in Asda to support himself before turning to the professional ranks.
"There was a lot of challenges along the way," he continued. "I was working at Asda on the tills to provide for myself during this time but I was also working at university and in the boxing gym. Eventually it came down to what I wanted to do so I quit work and I quit university and turned over as a professional. Just follow your heart, money and stuff will come and go and whatever you are meant to earn it is written for you anyway."
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Now four years into his professional career, Masoud hopes to following in the footsteps of Prince Naseem Hamed and Amir Khan as a new wave of British-Asian fighters rise to the top. "I used to love Prince Naseem Hamed, Floyd Mayweather, Amir Khan and they were the main ones I looked up too," he added. "I want to be one of the ones the kids look up to and say 'I want to be like Maverick'. That is one of my biggest aims. I want to be the guy that everyone wants to be hopefully."
But first he must take on Bateson who is also ranked among the top 15 and who has world title ambitions of his old. "So far this is the biggest fight of my career," Masoud admitted. "I know there will be plenty of bigger nights after this one.
"We are both ranked so we could push into the top five or six with a win. You just work your way up and I am hoping a title shot can come in the next two years for me. I am so focused on this right now but there is some huge fights down the line that I can hope to secure. Enjoy the ride and hopefully boxing will put some respect on my name after this one."
Sunny Edwards takes on Felix Alvarado at Probellum Sheffield tonight. Limited tickets still available at Ticketmaster.co.uk
