Fansided

Ibrar Riyaz likes getting beat up

By Joshua Sadlock

May 1, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Overall view of the empty boxing ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena following weigh-ins for the upcoming boxing fight between Floyd Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
May 1, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Overall view of the empty boxing ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena following weigh-ins for the upcoming boxing fight between Floyd Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
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 In the UK, there is a boxer doing something special. Ibrar Riyaz could be the modern-day Rocky Balboa.

In a day and age where professional athletes are retiring from contact sports at a young age to save their joints and brain cells, one athlete is boldly going where no man may have ever gone before. While Calvin Johnson dances with the stars, Ibrar Riyaz is happily getting his head bashed in on a near-weekly basis.

Riyaz, who goes by the nickname Smokin, is a 31-year-old British welterweight who stands 5-foot-4 and weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 140 pounds. Since making his debut in 2008, Riyaz has participated in 113 fights.

He has won four of them.

In fact, Riyaz is riding a remarkable 99-bout winless streak. The Lancashire native has managed to sprinkle in three draws during his lengthy losing streak. In 2016 alone, he has fought 16 times and managed only one draw. He has, somehow, managed to win six rounds out of the 70 on record for the year. His .086 round winning percentage this season is much, much better than his career winning percentage of .037.

Riyaz is just a tiny, little fellow who likes a good fight. It doesn’t matter much whether he wins or loses, or even gets a punch in.

Through shear force of will, and a desire to get punched over and over again, Riyaz has risen to the rank of 698 out of over 2,000 welterweights in the world, and is ranked 75th out of 127 in the UK. Are we to believe that there are actually 50 boxers in England who are more frequently concussed than this human punching bag?

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Boxing is a sport with many lower levels that are far from the bright lights and big stages of Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Ibrar Riyaz is making a living fighting in hotel ballrooms all over the United Kingdom, and it’s impossible to say why he keeps showing up. He has fought three times in three separate months already this year, proving that if an opponent needs a victory, he is ready to put his brain on the line. It’s the type of dedication to receiving skull-rattling hits that more NFL players should show.

I don’t know if there is a title fight in the works for Riyaz with Apollo Creed, but that is one fight I would certainly fork over at least $60 to watch.

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