Adam Azim clinched the European light-welterweight title, halting Franck Petitjean in the tenth round in Wolverhampton. The 21-year-old Briton delivered a dominant performance, flooring the defending champion with a body shot in the fifth. Petitjean, 35, rose after the count but his corner threw in the towel in the tenth after a second knockdown.
Azim's record now stands at 10 wins with seven stoppages. Aspiring to follow in the footsteps of his idol Amir Khan, Azim eyes a world championship by age 22, with his 22nd birthday approaching in July.
“It feels amazing to have won the European Title. A lot of people don’t realise I’m only 21 years old, so to break records like I have done is a huge statement. I chopped that tree down and got the stoppage to become the first-ever British-Pakistani to win the European Title. I enjoyed the moment and now I’m focused on bringing those World Titles back to Slough in 2024,” Adam exclusively told Asian Voice.
In a previous interview with the newsweekly, Adam spoke about his quest with ADHD. He said, “I come from a Pakistani Asian family. I’m Kashmiri as well as British, as I was born in the UK. We’re all warriors in my family. We’re from the Janjua Rajput caste, which is the same as Amir Khan, who is someone I’ve always looked up to.”
He first discovered he had ADHD at 4 years old. He was very hyperactive and had this energy that no one in his family had ever seen before. “My parents saw that I couldn’t stop fidgeting, I kept moving around and messing about - so they took me to the Doctor where I was diagnosed with ADHD. My family knew I needed an outlet for my energy, so they chose boxing and that helped me manage my ADHD,” he said.
Adam insisted that ADHD is very prevalent in the Asian community. “I think people need to understand that ADHD isn’t a bad thing to have. It’s a really good thing. You can use it to achieve good things. Not just in boxing - it could be cricket, football, or any great activity. You can use your ADHD to achieve something great. ADHD is a superpower. It is energy that you can channel into anything you want to achieve great things,” he added.
