By Rohith Nair
(Reuters) – Maths teacher Ramez Mahmood occasionally walks into class with a black eye but his students at his Ilford-based school have grown accustomed to visible bruises knowing it comes with the territory of also being a professional boxer.
Armed with a degree from the University of Greenwich, Mahmood’s day job involves teaching students aged 11-18, but the ultimate dream of ‘The Mathemagician’ is to win British Commonwealth and European titles.
But making that dream a reality while working a full-time job to pay the bills demands a rigorous daily routine that involves 5AM starts from Monday to Friday for training sessions in the gym before heading to school.
“I’ve had early morning sparring sessions and got myself a black eye and then gone to work with it. I’ve been asked, ‘What happened?’ (and I say) ‘Oh, just sparring’. It is what it is, but I think they’re used to it now,” Mahmood told Reuters.
“I’ll finish work about 3:30 PM. Straight from work I’ll drive to the boxing gym to have my second session of the day, the boxing session. On Saturday morning I’ll have one more training session.
“From Saturday afternoon and Sunday I’ll rest, but then I will do any of my marking or my planning for the coming week (at school) — so there’s no social time in there,” he added with a laugh.
Mahmood says he was bitten by the boxing bug after watching Amir Khan, who is also of Pakistani descent, win the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics.
The 28-year-old describes himself as the ‘world’s hardest maths teacher’ and has a 12-2 win-loss record. He said the school has been supportive in allowing him to follow his dream.
“They’ve given me time off work if I need to before a fight,” he added.
“They all often buy tickets as well, I always see them cheering me on at the fights.”
LONG-TERM PLAN
Balancing professional boxing and teaching is not a long-term plan for Mahmood, however, and he hopes to hang up his gloves before time catches up with him.
“I don’t want to be one of these fighters that hangs about into my late thirties. I want to get in, get on and get out,” he said.
Becoming a trainer in the gym is the next logical step, but Mahmood said teaching is still a priority.
“I will definitely be a coach. I’m pretty sure my old amateur club already has that job waiting for me,” he added.
“I’m sure I’ll still be in education of some capacity, whether that be a math teacher or a vice-principal.”
Some of his students are his biggest fans and they have also been inspired by Mahmood, with some taking up boxing at an amateur club.
“I’m quite easy to find on Google or YouTube or social media, they always leave comments on the videos and ask questions,” he said.
“It helps me relate to them a lot better than they do with other teachers.”
Do they give him a hard time knowing he is a boxer or do they toe the line?
“They do push the barriers a little bit but I can have banter with him at the same time,” he added. “It’s always a good laugh and they’re not malicious with it.”
(Reporting by Andy Couldridge in London and Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
