This Saturday night, at London’s iconic York Hall, Kaisy (AKA Quaise) Khademi (10-1-2) makes the step up to world level when he faces Jackson Chauke (23-2-2) for the vacant IBO flyweight world title. It’s a formidable task that the Afghan-born boxer will not be afraid of, considering his tough start to life.
“We would hear bomb noises and gunfire all the time, so we were always hiding, but I was too young to remember that much,” he told TalkSport in 2022, explaining his early life in war-torn Kabul, Afghanistan.
His father had befriended Americans who rented his properties that he owned, which angered others in his homeland. The family were thusly forced to flee to Pakistan in 1998. Then, following an incident involving an AK-47 being pointed at his father by those who wished ill upon the Khademi family, they decided to traverse the dangerous route offered by people traffickers, feeling it was their only chance to join Kaisy’s brother who had previously moved to England, and ultimately, live a safe life.
“Certain times we wouldn’t even know what country we were in. We would be travelling in the boot of a car for 15-16 hours and stop in little places for a few nights and then another car would come and pick us up and take us to a different location.”
They gave themselves in to authorities in Germany and could have stayed there but chose not to. Their journey wasn’t over.
“So, we left and made our way to France, and we were in a camp for four or five months,” he continued. “We were trying to get to the UK in the back of lorries, but they were going in different directions, and on the third attempt, we finally got here.”
After such a tumultuous beginning to life, boxing, as is so often the case, guided him through times when his life could have spiraled towards negativity. 22 wins in 28 amateur contests gave Kaisy the launchpad to turn pro in 2017.
Fast-forward to 2024, and the 29-year-old is on the precipice of world glory. With just 13 professional fights under his belt, it may be a little too soon, but he and his extremely ambitious team are willing to bet on him. A win on Saturday would inevitably lead to even bigger fights.
Backed by Warren Boxing Management and Neilson Boxing, the tandem have quickly gathered momentum for Khademi following his trio of bouts with Ijaz Ahmed on Queensberry Promotions events. Khademi and Ahmed battled across thirty rounds of thrilling action in their trilogy of clashes. Ahmed won the first by a razor-thin majority decision, and the subsequent two – that were both for the vacant British 115-pound belt – were drawn leaving the title in purgatory. He felt immensely hard done by not to have had his hand raised in any of the competitive scraps.
They were scheduled to dance for a fourth and final time for the British super-flyweight championship, but an injury to Khademi scuppered those plans and each man went their own way.
A 13-month layoff led Khademi to a new route. In the space of four months in the second half of 2023, he dropped and stopped both Benn Norman and Selemani Bangaiza in less than twelve minutes combined. With that, he captured both the Continental and Intercontinental IBO 115-pound titles.
The two ranking title victories helped him quickly climb back up the rankings towards a shot at the IBO version of the world title at 112-pounds, a belt held by the likes of Nonito Donaire, Vic Darchinyan and Moruti Mthalane. It will create boxing history if he is to win, as the first Afghan to win a world title.
Standing in his way is South Africa’s Jackson Chauke. A boxer with swathes of experience to rely on. The former Commonwealth Games silver medalist and 2008 Olympian has only lost once in the last decade as a professional (which was a split decision). He’s never been stopped and is nine years Khademi’s senior at 38. The South African flyweight champion arrived in England on Monday morning for what will be the highest purse of his 27-fight career, fully expecting to win the IBO title.
The IBO are renowned for giving fighters without the backing of major promoters the opportunities they might not get from other sanctioning bodies, but often deserve. Some question the legitimacy of it, but it is rightly considered a credible world crown by many in the sport.
WBM and Neilson Boxing have performed a minor miracle to be able to stage a non-televised world title fight on British soil without the lucrative backing of a big TV network or streaming service. They have delivered for their man and they will expect him to get the job done on Saturday.
“When it comes to putting on these shows without the big TV networks backing us: it’s a hard gig,” Kyle Neilson, Operations Manager of Neilson Boxing told me. “I’m not going to lie. We don’t have that pot of money to spend on production, opponents and sanctioning etc..”
“A lot of stress,” he responded, when asked about putting together Saturday’s event. “A lot of ups and downs but we power through. It’s fight week and we’re looking forward to the show on Saturday.”
From desperate beginnings to potential sporting glory, Kaisy’s story of a humble, young man blessed with fast hands and pugilistic skill still has many chapters to write.
This particular chapter will be streamed on Queensberry Promotions’ YouTube channel for the world to watch. From Kabul to Bethnal Green; from war zones to world titles. Could Saturday be the crowning achievement for Kaisy Khademi?