By: Sean Crose
Super featherweight Alex Dilmaghani possess a record of 19-1 with 8 wins by knockout. The Briton is set to face the 25-2-1 Francisco Fonseca at London’s York Hall this month. At stake in the scheduled 12 round bout is the vacant International Boxing Organization World Super Featherweight Title. Yet there’s far more to Dilmaghani than the raw data and expectations surrounding an upcoming match. For the twenty eight year old is one of the more interesting fighters out there. Not only does Dilmaghani have a law degree, he’s worked with the great Nacho Beristain, and has what may be an expert knowledge of some of the sport’s past.
“Mostly its the mindset of the past fighters that intrigue me,” says Dilmaghani, whose knowledge of boxing history hearkens back to Mike Tyson’s encyclopedic recall of fistic yesteryear. “They fought under a lot more difficult circumstances.” The fighter is clearly curious by nature, and eager to learn all he can about this toughest of sports. “It’s good to learn different styles,” he says, “what beats what.” Dilmaghani also argues that “the more knowledge you have, it’s always better. It holds you in good stead. Knowledge is wealth at the end of the day.”
Here is a man who has aimed to learn from the best. He’s sparred with none other than Juan Manuel Marquez, after all, and has picked the brain of legendary trainer Nacho Beristain. “It was fantastic working with Nacho,” he says. “It was a great learning a lot from him, I used to ask him a lot of questions, and he always used to be very accommodating.”
As for his unique background in the law, the London native is humble. “I don’t know if I’m the first law graduate,” he says of himself and his peers. “Juan Manuel Marquez himself was an accountant.” When it comes to boxing, Dilmaghani knows the most important thing is what one can do in the ring. “The fundamental main thing is, you have to be able to fight,” he says. “Luckily for me, I’m able to fight extremely well.” With a single loss on his resume dating all the way back to June of 2011, Dilmaghani plans on taking his fighting ability to the next stage of his career.
“I’m a lot more familiar with Fonseca than past opponents,” he states. “I’ve seen him up and close…I’m very familiar with him compared to the other opponents I’ve had.”
Alex Dilmaghani v Francisco Fonseca is exclusively live in the UK on Channel 5 from 9pm on Saturday 16th November with the undercard starting a 7pm on 5Spike.
