Joseph Ayodele

Joseph Ayodele was born in Bow, East London in 1989. From a large family involved in British amateur boxing since the 1960’s, Joseph emphatically credits boxing and the boxing community, with giving him the necessary tools and strength, to get though the challenges he faced growing up. His parents were unfortunately unable look after him, often having no fixed home themselves. Joseph’s childhood was spent continually moving between the homes and flats of the many family members around the East End, often having no room or bed and twice living in children’s homes after being taken into care. Without any permanent foundation, Joseph soon became alienated and fell away from school, friendship groups and ‘main society’. He soon found himself getting increasingly into trouble and in his own words “running wild”. Luckily, one day, he went along with two of his brothers to his uncle’s boxing gym. This moment, was the start of a new path in life for Joseph and he attributes all the positive changes he was able to make in his life in the years after, along with the strength needed to overcome them and the discipline and self-worth to keep going, to the boxing world.

Since the 1960’s, many of Joseph’s family have been involved in British amateur boxing as fighters, coaches, managers and promoters. It was being surrounded for years, by all these different generations, that enabled Joseph to encounter the stories, legends and whispered secrets behind decades of British boxing. Among these countless extraordinary stories, Joseph learned of a heart-breaking tale of a British amateur boxer in the 1980’s. Shocked by the devastating injustice inflicted upon this innocent man, Joseph decided to research and investigate what actually happened and why. His anger at the corruption and betrayal involved ‘flicked a switch’ in him. He decided to research more and spent over 2 years talking to a multitude of individuals in the boxing community, including some of the more unsavoury characters involved in the more shadowy side of the sport.

Looking for way to shine a light on the darker side of boxing and in doing so, in society itself, Joseph decided, without having had any previous experience, to write. The result is Joseph’s first novel, ‘My Name is Fitzroy Malcolm’.