CHILD'S PLAY
I was homeless dad of twins at 14 and ended up in prison twice, but now I fight alongside Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua
The Leeds-born fighter has stepped in at the last minute for Usyk-Fury 2
ISHMAEL DAVIS has seven kids - by six women - so one boxing opponent on a week’s notice should be a doddle!
Leeds’ super-welterweight has been a super-sub for two mega-money Saudi-backed shows in the last three months, jumping in against Ukraine’s dangerous Serhii Bohachuk on Saturday.
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But staying in shape, always being ready and never saying no don’t seem to have ever been a problem for the 29-year-old.
"It was a crazy story," daddy cool under-stated.
"I was in secondary school and I loved girls, I was just reckless and wanted to experience things - then suddenly I was 14 and ended up with twins!
"I actually have seven kids now and they have all given me purpose in life.
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“None of us are perfect, I am still not a perfect dad now.
";I have six baby mums and they are all scattered around and because I am an athlete and have to be dedicated I don’t get enough time to spend with them.
";So maybe I spoil them too much but that’s maybe to make up for a bit of guilt."
Guilt has been a powerful force for change for Davis.
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Thrown out of home at 14, he was seduced by gang life and endured two stints in prison.
Instead of playing up on the sort of bonafide bad-boy image that would make him an easy sell in British boxing - where too many nice boys act the bad man - Davis wants to be the last of that dark generation.
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He told us: "I really lived the life but I am honestly not here to play-up-to or sell a macho-man or bad-boy image.
"It was the life I was given and then I chose but I am here to tell and show people that, if they go the same way, they can turn their life around.
"I can’t have it in me to have any anger against any opponents and I can’t take it seriously when opponents from nice schools, good lives and good gyms try to scare me.
"But that’s how life should be, everyone should have those nice lives.
"Being in prison, hearing those keys jangle, being told when you can and can’t have a shower, so you can’t always even be clean, it has made me built differently.
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"But I wish I didn’t have to go through what I did.
"And I hope I am the last British boxer to come through like this.
"It has made me what I am but now I can hopefully steer kids the right way.”
Back-to-back Riyadh Season shows, one on a balmy September night at Wembley Stadium and another in the desert this weekend, have made Davis hot property.
But the hard-earned cash, winter warmth and rich opportunities are not lost on a black boy in Leeds who was once homeless and hopeless before he had even finished school.
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He explained: "I was kicked out of home at 14, in a hostel at 15 and had my own flat at 16.
"But I didn’t have enough money to have the heating on, so I had a little electric heater that I had to keep on all night, right next to my bed.
"Even before going to prison, there were times in my life where I have been stuck in my flat feeling like I was in prison.
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"Those times make these moments feel unreal.
"It sounds silly but now I can leave the heating on, even when I go out, and come home to a nice warm house, they make these achievements feel so good."
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