Mikael Lawal (12-0, 7 KOs) has been shortlisted for the Boxing Writers’ Club Young Boxer of the Year award following a stellar 2019 that has seen him crowned winner of the cruiserweight edition of the Ultimate Boxxer tournament.
Having dropped both Antony Woolery and David Jamieson in points victories on route to the Ultimate Boxxer final, Lawal, who is promoted by Team Sauerland and trains out of Stonebridge Boxing Club, produced a spectacular knockout performance against Damian Chambers to take home the prize money.
“Winning Ultimate Boxxer was great,” said Lawal. “I’d visualised winning it, I dreamed about winning it, but the reality was even better than I imagined.”
The 24-year-old has been nominated for the prestigious award alongside top UK prospects Conor Benn, Ted Cheeseman, Keiron Conway, Daniel Dubois, Sunny Edwards, Kash Farooq, Brad Foster, Terri Harper and Archie Sharp.
Previous winners of the Boxing Writers’ Club Young Boxer Of The Year include Billy Joe Saunders, Naseem Hamed, Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe. The trophy will be presented at the club’s 68th annual dinner at The Savoy next month.
“I was pleasantly surprised when I heard from my manager that I had been nominated,” he said. “It’s funny because only a few years ago I was at the Boxing Writers’ Awards dinner as a guest of my promoter and I remember thinking, wouldn’t it be amazing to be nominated at this awards ceremony and be mentioned with who they consider to be the top tier fighters of the last year.
“To me, I’ve won already. You have to remember I only had seven amateur fights and all just in one year. All of the previous winners had great amateur experience, so just being mentioned in the same category as them makes me a winner.”
“It’s great that Mikael is receiving this recognition and its testament to the work him and the team at Stonebridge Boxing Club have been doing,” said Lawal’s promoter Nisse Sauerland. “He is already making waves in the cruiserweight division and we will be targeting a big fight for him before the end of the year.”
