Boxer Arjon Basi fights with empty seat for late father
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- Arjon Basi, a 25-year-old London ticket-seller, is two fights into his professional career and will box on the preliminary undercard at Olympia in Kensington on Sunday before the televised portion of the card.
- Basi leaves an empty chair at every fight in memory of his father, who died of a sudden heart attack when Basi was a teenager; he used to look to his dad for a pre-fight nod and now nods at the empty seat, saying 'he's there, I know he's there.'
- Basi damaged tendons in his right wrist and tore ligaments in his left wrist; doctors told him he would 'never box again' and would 'struggle to pick your kids up' before the injuries healed in what medics called 'a miracle.'
- Basi later suffered a pulmonary embolism — a blood clot in his lung described as 'genuinely life threatening' — and said if he'd waited 'another couple of days, the conversation could have been very, very different, if any conversation at all.'
- Basi told Sky Sports that 'boxing ran in my family blood, everyone in my family boxed,' and that his debut at York Hall drew a crowd so loud it 'erupted' when he walked out, with Basi calling his support 'manic.'
Why it matters: Basi's Sunday fight is a profile in persistence: he steps back into the ring two professional bouts deep after doctors told him his boxing career was finished and a pulmonary embolism nearly killed him. For a 25-year-old ticket-seller still building his record, the Olympia undercard slot is a small but concrete step in a career that has already needed a 'miracle' to survive.
