We often hear stories of people from all walks of life who after countless years of dedication, working in the background, finally get the recognition they so justly deserve. After untold years of hard work, dedication, blood, sweat, and tears that day came for James Ali Bashir on September 17, 2016.
On that day, Oleksandr Usyk (10-0 9 K0) would become the WBO cruiserweight championship in only his 10th professional fight a record previously held by Evander Holyfield who accomplished the feat in his 12th pro fight, and in his corner as chief trainer was Bashir, as he is known.
We often are left to wonder what roads people traveled to finally get their long overdue reward. In the case of Bashir, his story goes back to his days fighting as an amateur and later winding up in the Deer Lake, Pa training camp of the great Muhammad Ali.
Along the way, Bashir learned and honed his craft working with old-school training legends in boxing. His most recent teacher was legendary trainer Emmanuel Steward, who he worked with for 17 years as Steward’s assistant.
His early schooling started with Frank Shirley who he calls a profound teacher. Thereafter came trainers like Sam Solimon, Bennie Williams, Bill Miller, Walter Smith, Slim Robinson, Percy Richardson, Eddie Aliano, Carmine Graziano, Frank Logan, Tommy Parks, and Jimmy Glenn.
With each of these masters, he took pieces of their knowledge and formulated it into his own unique training style.
As Steward’s assistant, he worked with fighters Lennox Lewis, Jermaine Taylor, Miguel Cotto, and currently 13 years with Wladimir Klitschko. Before getting the prestigious job with Steward, Bashir had worked with or trained Donald Curry, Dale Jackson, Steve Upsher, Maurice Harris, Al Cole, Monty Barrett, Jameel McCline, Tim Witherspoon, Shannon Briggs, and Eddie Chambers.
On September 17, 2016 all the lessons Bashir had learned from the aforementioned training legends and packaged into his own unique style, was on full display when 2012 Heavyweight Olympic Gold Medal champion Oleksandr Usyk put on a boxing clinic against a heavy handed, granite chin, iron willed, undefeated WBO cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Glowacki in Glowacki’s backyard in Poland. Glowacki had just come off wins against Steve Cunningham and a KO of former cruiserweight champion Marco Huck.
For those who got to see Usyk that Saturday evening, what they saw was a young Ukrainian masterfully school Glowacki using a precise jab, combinations, hand speed, and flawless footwork. More important, they got to see many of the lessons his trainer James Ali Bashir had learned from the old school masters.
So impressed was Usyk’s win that former cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson, working the fight for Sky Television, would proclaim that in his opinion, Usyk was the best fighter in the division. That was followed by current WBC champion Tony Bellew complimenting Usyk on his impressive performance.
There’s a valuable lesson to be learned from this story. It’s a lesson far more valuable than a trainer getting his first champion after 40 years of hard work and dedication in a sport he loves. Sure, who wouldn’t stand up and applaud and admire any man for this level of perseverance.
The poet Rudyard Kipling in his famous poem “IF” summed it all up in some of the poems famous lines when he said:
“If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you”
“If you can wait and not be tired by waiting”
“If you can dream - and not make dreams your master”
“Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it”
Said another way, what Kipling was saying is that if you follow your dreams and not live your life through the eyes and opinions of others, if you can deal with the obstacles, twists and turns that life throws you, the universe will reward your perseverance, hard work, dedication, and accomplishments.
On September 17, 2016, the universe stood up and rewarded a man who never quit, believed in himself and his dreams, and took the road less traveled. That’s how life works when you follow your dreams and never ever quit.
