“I was born alone and I am going to die alone, so follow your own journey.”
That statement from British light middleweight Ishmael Davis may seem forceful at first glance, but his tough outlook on life was developed over some difficult formative years.
At the age of 14, Davis had been expelled from school, expelled from his childhood home, and was adjusting to the responsibility of caring for his newborn twin sons.
“I had a bit of a tough upbringing,” Davis tells BBC Sport.
“At 14 I lived with the mother of my first baby, I was in a shelter until I was 15 and then I got my own apartment.
“As I wasn’t making any money, it was difficult. I was only making about £100 every two weeks. It was a difficult time in my life, but these are the things I’ve had to overcome.”
Davis, now 30, first entered a boxing gym at age 12 and took part in an unlicensed amateur fight the following year, but any dreams of continuing to pursue the sport were shelved as she tried to support her children.
Despite still being a child, Davis turned to the streets of Chapeltown in Leeds to make ends meet.
“I was nine years old when I had my first children. After that I wanted to be on the streets all the time and I got into gangs,” says Davis.
“Because I had small children, I started selling drugs.”
Davis would end up in prison soon after and was on a path taken by some of his closest friends and family.
He will face Sam Gilley for the British and Commonwealth light middleweight titles on November 15 on the undercard of Chris Eubank Jr against Conor Benn at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as he looks to turn his career around after three defeats in his last four fights.
Davis discusses how different his life could have been if it weren’t for boxing and his personal drive.
