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Home » Waleed Din severs promotional ties with Dennis Hobson / Asif Vali

Waleed Din severs promotional ties with Dennis Hobson / Asif Vali

The Sheffield flyweight was given the opportunity by Hobson and Vali to fight for the Commonwealth title in just his eighth fight, but suffered a first defeat when he was stopped by Thomas Essomba in eleven rounds.

Since then the 23-year-old has got back to winning ways with a February victory over Bulgarian journeyman Stefan Slavchev, but will now no longer appear on the May 29 Hobson show at the Sheffield City Hall as previously scheduled.

“Waleed is a young, talented boxer,” explained Vali. “We gave him the opportunity to fight for the Commonwealth belt at flyweight which his father and trainer wanted, more so than Dennis or myself. My advice was not to fight because Waleed is a natural light-flyweight and Essomba was naturally bigger and stronger. But Waleed’s team said it would be fine so we went with it, but he ended up losing convincingly.

“After that loss we had to sit down and look at things, and from a business point of view Waleed couldn’t expect to earn the same money. Financially, it’s hard for a boxer starting out to make things work and they’ll usually need sponsorship or be a good ticket seller. Dennis and myself are promoters who have to make shows work financially because we don’t have TV money behind us. So unless it’s financially viable then we aren’t able to move forward, and we’ve decided by mutual consent to release Waleed from his promotional contract. Although his career will still be managed by Dennis who will obviously try to get him back fighting for titles.

“Waleed isn’t a big ticket seller and we just couldn’t carry on losing money, unless it was for a title fight when more tickets are sold. Normal fights, when he’s building himself back up, it’s just not viable. I actually wish all these people behind the scenes and on social media giving him advice would back him financially by buying a ticket and come to the shows, and help him and the promotion.

“As a promoter you can’t keep taking losses by bringing opponents over, with only a few tickets being sold to offset the cost. It’s not a situation I like but unfortunately it’s the reality for most boxers in the UK. Promoters can’t keep losing thousands of pounds every show. I still like Waleed and his dad but financially things need to stack up.”

“Waleed can’t expect preferential treatment, especially after a loss,” reiterated manager Hobson. “If you’re going to get anywhere in this sport then it’s about working as a team, success is a two-way thing. There are plenty of experts out there offering advice but the reality is they wouldn’t invest or risk a bean! Waleed is a talent and I do want him to do well.”