Ukashir Farooq (born 3 January 1996) is a Scottish former professional boxer who competed from 2015 to 2021. He held the British

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...

title from 2018 to 2019 and challenged once for the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

bantamweight title in 2019.

Early life

Ukashir Farooq, known by friends and family as "Kash", was born on 3 January 1996 in

Gujranwala Gujranwala ( ur, , label=none; ) is a city and capital of Gujranwala Division located in Pakistan. It is also known as "City of Wrestlers" and is quite famous for its food. It is the 5th most populous city proper after Karachi, Lahore, Faisala ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, Pakistan. One of three brothers, he and his family immigrated to England and applied for asylum in 2002, initially living in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

before being relocated to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland. He first entered a boxing gym in 2010 after being invited by a friend. In an interview with The Herald, Farooq recalled: "I wasn’t interested in boxing at the start" and "...the trainer saw me hitting a few bags and asked me to come back. I came back and did some sparring and it just continued from there. Now I love boxing."

Professional career

Farooq made his professional debut on 25 October 2015, winning a four round

points decision A points decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking. Unlike normal decisions where there are three judges that agree on whic ...

over Craig Derbyshire at the Radisson Blu Hotel in

. After winning his first seven fights, he challenged Scott Allan for the British Scottish Area

title on 23 November 2017 at the Radisson Blu Hotel. Farooq won via eighth-round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

(TKO). On 27 September 2018, he faced Jamie Wilson at the St. Andrew’s Sporting Club in Glasgow. Farooq scored a TKO victory 73 seconds into the first round to capture the vacant British bantamweight title, becoming the first Scottish boxer in 21 years to do so. The first defence of his British title came on 30 November 2018, against Iain Butcher at the Emirates Arena, Glasgow. Farooq retained his title with a

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

over twelve rounds. He defended his title for the second time on 25 April 2019, against undefeated Kyle Williams at the Radisson Blu Hotel, winning via fifth-round TKO. On 17 August 2019, Farooq beat Duane Winters by first-round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

(KO) at the Radisson Blu Hotel to retained his British bantamweight title. On 16 November 2019, he challenged

bantamweight champion Lee McGregor at the Emirates Arena, Glasgow. Farooq lost a highly disputed and controversial

split decision A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor. A split dec ...

in which many felt Farooq should have been the clear victor. In January 2022, in a statement released via St. Andrew's Sporting Club, Farooq announced his retirement from boxing at the age of 26. Citing "unforeseen circumstances", the statement thanked the British Boxing Board of Control, saying it's procedures kept the "health and safety of the boxers paramount at all times". It was also revealed that Farooq will be taking the role of "Head of Talent" for the St. Andrew's Sporting Club.

Professional boxing record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farooq, Kash Living people 1996 births Scottish male boxers Bantamweight boxers British Boxing Board of Control champions Boxers from Glasgow Sportspeople from Gujranwala Pakistani emigrants to Scotland Pakistani male boxers

Early life

Professional career

Professional boxing record

See also

References