I'm the only professional boxer in Saudi Arabia and have fought on Anthony Joshua, Oleksandr Usyk and Terence Crawford cards – but my life hasn't alwa

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Ziyad Almaayouf has been thrust into the limelight since Saudi Arabia entered the boxing sphere.

The undefeated 6-0 pro is the Kingdom’s first professional boxer and has been a part of some massive cards both at home and abroad.

While most boxers start their pro careers in small hall shows and leisure centres, Almaayouf made his debut on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua II.

However, that wasn’t his first taste of the sport.

“I started boxing when I was 10 years old,” Almaayouf told talkSPORT’s Hawksbee and Jacobs.

“But I moved to the United States when I was 19 years old. The reason being that from 10 years old to 19 years old I didn’t have a boxing ring, I didn’t have bags.

“I didn’t have a proper heavy bag that moved when you punched it, I had never seen a speed bag, I had never seen a double-end bag.

“There was never boxing on TV because the fights were mainly in the US and the time difference was so bad that boxing wasn’t really of interest for them to have it on at 3am or 4am.

“So you would never accidentally fall in love with the sport. So people look at my career now, they see Saudi’s involvement in my career now and they think this is how it has always been for me.

“A privileged one, a smooth ride. You don’t understand that nine out of the 15 years I didn’t even have a proper boxing gym.

“So when I moved it was like I started again completely. We had only three amateur tournaments [in Saudi Arabia] every year.

“In the UK and the US, you have amateur tournaments and fights every weekend. It was a very different world back then.”

During his three-year stint in the paid ranks, Almaayouf has gone from not knowing what a speed bag is to fighting on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs Israil Madrimov and Joshua vs Francis Ngannou.

His ultimate goal in the sport is to inspire the next generation of Saudi boxers and give them what he didn’t have growing up – a role model.

“Being in boxing at a young age I was looking for idols so I Googled ‘Saudi boxer’ and I found nobody,” he added.

“I found Prince Naseem, he was amazing, I looked up to him but he is from the UK where he had all the equipment, the ring and all of that.

“I didn’t have that so I couldn’t relate. So then I thought ‘I want to be that person.

“I want to be the person when you Google Saudi Arabian boxer, they find me’ and then it is not only for me it’s for the ones that come after me, and that’s the real purpose.”