The Shop Window
Right then — Adam Azim on BBC Two, prime time, free-to-air. This is exactly the platform a 23-year-old with this kind of talent should be fighting on, and tonight at the OVO Arena Wembley he gets to show a brand-new audience why the hardcore have been raving about him for two years. Ring-walks land around 9.30pm. If you've got mates who only watch boxing when it's on the telly, this is the one to put in front of them.
Azim is 14-0 with 11 stoppages and he's a proper talent — fast hands, fast feet, a vicious body attack and the sort of natural timing you can't coach. He's already won and defended the European super-lightweight title, and promoter Ben Shalom reckons this could be his last fight before a world title tilt. That tells you how highly they rate him.
Why Claggett Is the Perfect Test
Make no mistake, Steve Claggett is no tomato can. The Calgary man is 40-8-2 with 28 knockouts and — this is the key stat — he hasn't been stopped since 2011. Read that again. Fifteen years without being taken out. He took Teofimo Lopez the distance and has stopped his last two. Claggett is exactly the kind of awkward, durable, been-everywhere old pro who can make a fast-tracked prospect look ordinary for stretches.
That's the value of this fight for Azim. He's been blowing people away in two and three rounds. Claggett won't let him do that. This is about rounds, about problem-solving, about showing he can be brilliant when the other man refuses to wilt. That's the difference between a good prospect and a future world champion.
The Key Question
Can Azim sit a man like Claggett down? I'm not convinced anyone at 140 stops Claggett cleanly right now, and Azim has never had to drag himself through the deep waters of a hard twelve. Azim's body work is his best route — if anything breaks Claggett's resistance it's a sustained, nasty investment downstairs rather than one big head shot.
The Prediction
I'm not sitting on the fence. Azim wins, and he wins clearly — but I think Claggett's iron chin drags him into the later rounds and Azim has to settle for a wide points victory, something like 118-110. If Azim does find a stoppage late off the body, it only enhances the reputation. Either way, expect Azim to announce himself to the casual BBC audience tonight. He's levels above Claggett in speed and skill; the only question is whether the Canadian's granite jaw spoils the highlight reel. My head says decision, my gut says Azim makes a statement. Don't miss it.