Abdul-Bari "Barry" Awad (born 3 March 1990), best known by his nickname of "Kid Galahad", is a British

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who held the IBF

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, th ...

title in 2021. As of July 2022, Galahad is ranked as the world's ninth best featherweight by ''The Ring'' and tenth best by the

Transnational Boxing Rankings Board The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB) is an all-volunteer initiative formed in October 2012 with the intention of providing professional boxing with authoritative top-ten rankings, identifying the singular world champion of every divisio ...

. His

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or project ...

was chosen by trainer

Brendan Ingle Brendán Îngle (19 June 1940 – 25 May 2018) was an Irish boxing trainer, manager and former professional boxer based in Sheffield, England. Ingle trained four world champions in total at his Wincobank gym, including Johnny Nelson, "Prin ...

after a character played by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

in the 1962 film of the same name. From 2014 to 2016, Galahad served a ban from boxing due to doping.Kid Galahad's two-year suspension upheld as appeal fails
,

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

, 24 July 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2015

Early life

Galahad was born in the Qatar capital of

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...

but is originally from Yemen. His father was in the

Qatar Armed Forces The Qatar Armed Forces ( ar, القوات المسلحة القطرية, Al-Quwwat Al-Musallahah Al-Qatariyyah) are the military forces of the State of Qatar. Since 2015, Qatar has implemented mandatory military conscription with an average of ...

and was released as part of an agreement with the Americans after the conclusion of the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. At the age of 4, Galahad came to England with his parents and lived in Liverpool until he was 12 years old and eventually ended up in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

. At the age of thirteen he took up boxing with trainer

Professional career

Galahad decided to take up boxing to keep him off the streets so he didn't follow his siblings and end up in jail and being involved in gang violence. After he started going to his local gym to get bigger he noticed a boxing ring, after shadow boxing for a few minutes he decided he wanted to be a boxer. After a chance meeting with his hero

Prince Naseem Hamed Naseem Hamed (born 12 February 1974), nicknamed Prince Naseem and Naz, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2002.. Retrieved 25 February 2016. He held multiple featherweight world championships, including the WBO ti ...

he was told by Naseem that if he wanted to be great in boxing and wanted to be a champion he should train at the

gym, so after driving around for an hour Galahad and his mother found the gym.

Galahad vs. Spencer

Galahad made his professional debut on 5 September 2009 at the Colosseum in Watford England in which he defeated Delroy Spencer on Points.

Galahad vs. Senkovs

Galahad's Second Professional fight took place on 3 October 2009 at the Leisure Centre in Altrincham England where he defeated Pavels Senkovs on Points after 4 rounds.

Galahad vs. Curran

He then scored his first stoppage Victory on 21 May 2010 defeating Dougie Curran by TKO in the second round.

Galahad vs. Booth

Galahad racked up a record of 10–0 before defeating Jason Booth by Unanimous Decision on 18 February 2012 to earn his first title the WBC International super-bantamweight championship

Galahad vs. Wale

Galahad defended his championship once against Josh Wale by TKO afterwards he vacated the title. Galahad scored two more wins, defeating Ivan Ruiz Morote and Isaac Nettey both by TKO to earn a shot at the BBBofC British title which he won by defeating

James Dickens James McCulloch York Dickens (4 April 1931 – 5 April 2013) was a British Labour politician. Dickens was born in a Glasgow tenement. He attended Shawlands Academy and left aged 14, completing his education later at Newbattle Abbey Colleg ...

by TKO, he would later vacate the title.

Galahad vs. Prado

On 22 March 2014, Galahad won the European super-bantamweight championship with a unanimous twelve round decision over Sergio Prado.

Galahad vs. Mundraby

On 10 May 2014, Galahad won the vacant Commonwealth super-bantamweight championship by beating Fred Mundraby by

corner retirement A corner retirement or corner stoppage – abbreviated "RTD (Retired)" by BoxRec – are terms used in boxing to describe a fight that ends when, during any rest period between rounds, a boxer refuses to continue or their corner pulls them out, t ...

after round 4.

Galahad vs. Dos Santos

Galahad faced Adeilson Dos Santos on 20 September 2014 at the Ponds Forge Arena for the vacant IBF World Youth super-bantamweight championship. Gallahad controlled the fight, out boxing Dos Santos with fast jabs, hooks and combinations sending Dos Santos to the canvas in the first round and tenth round. Gallahad won the fight by unanimous decision. In October 2014 Galahad vacated the European title to pursue a world title.

Doping ban

In May 2015, Galahad was banned for 2 years following a failed drugs test. He tested positive for banned substance

stanozolol Stanozolol (Abbreviation, abbrev. Stz), sold under many brand names, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) medication derived from dihydrotestosterone (DHT). It is used to treat hereditary angioedema. It was developed by American pharmaceuti ...

, an anabolic steroid. He maintains his innocence saying his brother put the steroids in his protein shake after Galahad refused to give him money, and appealed against a ban, but it was rejected by

UKAD UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) is the organisation responsible for protecting sport in the United Kingdom from doping in sport, doping. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and is structured as a company limit ...

and the ban upheld, backdated to run from 20 September 2014.

Galahad vs. Volosinas

Galahad made his return to boxing on 30 April 2016 with a 4th round TKO win over Simas Volosinas at the

DW Stadium The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...

in Wigan, England. This was Galahad’s first non championship fight since 2013. Galahad won his first title since his return on 15 July 2017 winning the vacant IBF Inter-Continental

title.

Galahad vs. Warrington

On Saturday 15 June 2019 Galahad narrowly lost a split decision to

Josh Warrington Josh Warrington (born 14 November 1990) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world featherweight champion, having held the IBF title between 2018 and 2022. At regional level, he held the British, Commonwealth, European and WBC I ...

fighting for the IBF featherweight Title in what many commentators saw as a difficult contest to score. Judge Howard Foster's card was 115-113 in favour of Galahad, Steve Gray was 116-112 for Warrington and Michael Alexander was 116-113 for Warrington. Writing i
The Observer
Tom Seymour noted that "the fight was perilously close ... Kid Galahad has a right to feel he was robbed of the chance to be the IBF's undisputed champion".

Galahad vs. Marrero

Galahad beat

Claudio Marrero Claudio Marrero Guzman (born 6 March 1989) is a Dominican professional boxer who held the WBA interim, and IBO featherweight titles in 2017. Amateur career Marrero was the silver medalist at the 2007 Pan American Games in the bantamweight d ...

by technical knockout in the 8th round on 8th February 2020 at Sheffield Arena in Sheffield.

Galahad vs. Dickens

On 7 August 2021, Galahad successfully captured his first world title, the vacant IBF featherweight title against

Jazza Dickens James "Jazza" Dickens (born 12 April 1991) is a British professional boxer who challenged for the WBA (Super) super bantamweight title in 2016 and the IBF featherweight title in 2021, as of october 2022 he is the IBO featherweight world champio ...

. Dickens was ranked #3 by the IBF at featherweight at the time. The fight was stopped at the end of the 11th round when Dickens' corner refused to continue due to the punishment that he was taking.

Galahad vs. Martinez

On 13 November 2021, Galahad lost his world title in his first defence against Kiko Martinez, who was ranked #15 by the IBF at featherweight. Galahad looked comfortable through the first 5 rounds before being floored in the last 30 seconds of round 5. Galahad was again floored with the first punch of the 6th round and the referee stopped the fight.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Kid Galahad - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kid Galahad 1990 births Living people British sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in boxing Super-bantamweight boxers British male boxers European Boxing Union champions Commonwealth Boxing Council champions Featherweight boxers British Boxing Board of Control champions