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By Thomas Gerbasi - Contrary to popular belief, fighters aren’t made in the ring or the gym. Instead, that die is cast way before the gloves are laced up and mouthpieces are in. In the case of light heavyweight up and comer Ismayl Sillakh, his path was set on the streets of Zaporozhye, the city in southeastern Ukraine where he was born to a Ukrainian mother and West African father.
Favoring his father, a Sierra Leone native, Sillakh’s skin tone didn’t match that of most of his peers in the former Soviet Union, and racial slurs soon became a daily occurrence. Making matters worse was that his father traveled to England and left the family, which included Sillakh’s older and younger brother, when the future contender was just five. Soon, every day turned into a fight.
“My mother stayed alone with us three boys, and it was tough,” Sillakh told BoxingScene. “We were always fighting in the streets because kids would be like ‘hey n****r,’ and we would fight every day. Maybe this is why I went to boxing because I was fighting every day and my mother needed to put my energy in another way.”
It was a decision no one, save his future opponents, regretted. In the gym by the age of seven, Sillakh evolved into a top flight amateur, reportedly winning over 300 bouts, as well as a Silver medal in the 2005 World Championships. It was a love affair that started when he was young, through the power of video and local competitions, and still continues to this day.
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Favoring his father, a Sierra Leone native, Sillakh’s skin tone didn’t match that of most of his peers in the former Soviet Union, and racial slurs soon became a daily occurrence. Making matters worse was that his father traveled to England and left the family, which included Sillakh’s older and younger brother, when the future contender was just five. Soon, every day turned into a fight.
“My mother stayed alone with us three boys, and it was tough,” Sillakh told BoxingScene. “We were always fighting in the streets because kids would be like ‘hey n****r,’ and we would fight every day. Maybe this is why I went to boxing because I was fighting every day and my mother needed to put my energy in another way.”
It was a decision no one, save his future opponents, regretted. In the gym by the age of seven, Sillakh evolved into a top flight amateur, reportedly winning over 300 bouts, as well as a Silver medal in the 2005 World Championships. It was a love affair that started when he was young, through the power of video and local competitions, and still continues to this day.
[Click Here To Read More]
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