Boxing: Ishmael Davis wants to use his troubled past to be a role model

“I was born alone and I will die alone, so go on your own journey.”

This statement from British light-middleweight Ishmael Davis may seem straightforward on the surface, but his harsh outlook on life has been honed over some difficult formative years.

By the time she was 14, Davis had been expelled from school, kicked out of her childhood home, and was adjusting to the responsibility of caring for newborn twin boys.

“I had a bit of a tough upbringing,” Davis told BBC Sport.

“I was living with the mother of my first baby when I was 14, I went to a hostel until I was 15, then I got my own flat.

“It was tough because I wasn’t making any money. I was only making about £100 every fortnight. It was a tough time in my life but these are the things I had to deal with.”

Davis, now 30, first stepped into a boxing gym at the age of 12 and entered an unlicensed amateur fight the following year, but his dreams of pursuing the sport further were shelved while he tried to provide for his children.

Although still a child himself, Davis returned to the streets of Chapeltown in Leeds to earn a living.

“I was nine years old when I had my first children. After that, I wanted to be on the streets all the time and got involved in gangs,” says Davis.

“I started selling drugs because my children were young.”

Davis would soon find himself in prison, and he was on the same path his closest friends and family were walking.

He will face Sam Gilley for the British and Commonwealth light-middleweight titles on the undercard of Chris Eubank Jr v Conor Benn at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on November 15, as he looks to get his career back on track after three defeats in his last four fights.

Davis reflects on how different his life might have been if it wasn’t for boxing and his personal passion.