Boxing champion Bilal Fawaz fights for British citizenship after 20 years

Bilal Fawaz is set to challenge Ishmael Davis for the British and Commonwealth titles at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena on Saturday, even though he still does not have a British passport. The English light-middleweight champion, who has lived in the UK for more than 20 years, is also the subject of a new BBC documentary.

Fawaz was born in Nigeria in 1988 to a mother from Benin and a Lebanese father. He has spent about 30 years fighting for a passport, a struggle that forced him into a professional career that did not begin until he was 33. In 2022, his fight to remain in Britain was already deep into its second decade, with plans to deport him and Nigeria unwilling to take him, while he had been seeking asylum in the UK for 11 years.

He is an Uber-driving champion and has fought for citizenship for almost two decades. He won the English super-welterweight championship and wants to fight for the Lonsdale belt, but a British passport remains central to what he can do next in the ring. Without one, travel abroad and the full use of his title-winning status remain constrained.

Promoter Eddie Hearn has backed Fawaz publicly, saying he should be given his passport and that the delay is stopping him from progressing in boxing.