Boxer Drives Uber Between Fights, Chases British Title

On Sunday morning, if all goes well, Bilal Fawaz will tell his Uber passengers something unexpected: "I became a British champion last night. Then I drove this car."

The 37-year-old boxer fights for the British light-middleweight title in Nottingham this Saturday. Win or lose, he'll be back behind the wheel Sunday night, earning £70 to £80 while his kids sleep, because that's what it takes to keep boxing.

Fawaz isn't romanticizing the struggle. He works four jobs: Uber driver, personal trainer, fitness instructor, and professional boxer. He pays for his car on a weekly subscription, trains clients before leaving London for fights, and never stops moving because bills don't wait.

But the real fight started long before any boxing ring. Fawaz was trafficked from Nigeria to London at 14, promised a reunion with his father but instead trapped in modern slavery. He escaped into the care system, which he says failed him as much as his abusive childhood had.

His boxing talent emerged at the All Stars gym in Kilburn, where he became an English amateur champion and national team captain. Yet twice he watched Olympic dreams and six-figure contracts vanish because he couldn't legally work or travel.

No country claims him. Nigeria says he's not Nigerian. Lebanon has no record of him. Benin won't recognize him because he wasn't born there. A judge ruled the Home Office had no grounds to detain him, but officially he remains stateless, still without a passport after 30 years in the UK.

He finally received a work permit in 2022 and turned professional. Now he's making up for lost time, one fight and one Uber shift at a time.

Why This Inspires

Fawaz could have given up a thousand times over. Most people would have. Instead, he found boxing, a sport that demands you keep getting up no matter how many times you're knocked down.

His story isn't about overcoming obstacles for a fairy-tale ending. It's about showing up every single day, driving passengers between training sessions, working multiple jobs while chasing a championship, refusing to let circumstances define your worth.

"If you keep working hard, the hard work will find a way to engulf the problem and make it tolerable," he says. That's not inspirational poster wisdom. That's survival mathematics from someone who's done the math.

Saturday night in Nottingham, Fawaz steps into the ring carrying more than boxing gloves. He carries proof that belonging isn't granted by paperwork or promised by governments. Sometimes you have to fight for it yourself, round after round, shift after shift, until the world finally sees what you've known all along: you were always a champion.