The champion boxer without a country to fight for

Available for over a year

Bilal Fawaz was just 14 when he was trafficked to the UK from Nigeria. Without stability or family support he survived domestic slavery and went on to become an English boxing champion. He was even tipped to fight for Britain at the 2012 Olympics, but a long legal battle to establish his nationality - a country to fight for - derailed his rise to the top. While husband and wife Timofey Yuriev and Melissa Kho were walking their dog in New York state, they came across two other dogs that had fallen through the ice into a freezing lake. Luckily Timofey's Siberian grandfather and nuclear physicist mother had given him the skills necessary for this rescue. This interview was first broadcast in May 2019. Get in touch: [email protected] (Photo: Bilal Fawaz. Credit: Tom Jenkins/Getty Images)