Everybody has got a story to tell but the struggles and severe hardships some people endure before achieving their dreams make their stories more intriguing and inspiring.
Some of these individuals are often written off by society against achieving their dreams and often become good examples to others who are also battling hardship to succeed in life.
One such person is 33-year-old Freezy Macbones who made his boxing debut at the very ‘old age’ of 37.
Born in Ghana as Seth Gyimah in 1990, Freezy recounts struggling in Ghana as he had to work as a labourer on construction sites to be able to feed himself.
He revealed that working on construction sites became a habit during his days as a student of Krobea Asante Technical Vocational Institute in Asokore because he had to find ways to raise money.
“When I was in Ghana, I went to school at the Krobea Asante Technical Vocational Institute in Asokore and I was doing construction. So anytime we were on vacation, I bought a shovel and was chasing masons to give me a job to do – concrete or whatever. So that was my job, begging people to have a job,” Gyimah told Joy Sports.
Freezy Macbones comes from a family of 13 and among the 11 siblings, he is the only son and has 10 sisters.
He moved to London at the age of 22 in 2012 after getting the opportunity to travel in search of better life but life, as he had imagined being in the UK, was different from what he had heard.
However, to Freezy Macbones, working as a kitchen chef/dishwasher was better than carrying concrete in the scorching sun back in Ghana as a labourer.
“When I came here [to the UK] I was a kitchen porter. I was washing plates until one day after working so hard I got the opportunity to work in the kitchen. One of the chefs did not turn up so the head chef called me to replace him.
“He saw how comfortably and confidently I was doing the kitchen job, so he asked if I wanted to work white. I told him I wanted to and he gave me the opportunity to work as a chef,” he said.
Boxing career
While in the UK, Seth Gyimah still had his dreams of becoming a professional boxer and he kept knocking on doors till he got the opportunity.
Gyimah in his interview revealed that he was advised to quit chasing a career in boxing while in the amateur field because there will be nobody to take care of him if he is injured.
After 5 years in the amateur field, Seth got his breakthrough in a trial bout that was arranged by a promotional company, wanting to see what he is capable of doing.
He went in the ring against a man significantly bigger but knocked him out with his head resting on the bottom rope.
“Everything was cool until he hit me hard. A week later I’ve seen the video, 50 Cent, [Floyd] Mayweather, and everyone was posting it. It was crazy. Everyone was asking, who is this guy? That’s how it happened,” he told Sky Sports after his trial bout.
He soon earned the nickname Britain's Mike Tyson after his video went viral and he has not looked back since.
His aggressive, power, punches, and his hunger when fighting in the ring drew more attention to him as people fell in love with his drive and seriousness.
At 33 years old, MacBones fought 18 times in the amateur field and lost 6 times but as a professional boxer, he is yet to taste a defeat in his 2 bouts.
He had his pro debut boxing bout at East London’s York Hall on February 24, 2023, after which he claimed a four-round victory over Darryl Sharp at the Copper Box Arena in London on Saturday, April 15, 2023.
Freezy Macbones is reportedly worth $500,000 after 18 fights as a boxer in both the pro and amateur field.
JE/KPE
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