EXCLUSIVE: Daily Star reporter Jamie Shapiro talks about doing Kung fu as a teen with UFC champ Javid Basharat aka ‘The Snow Leopard’ and what the cage fighter said to make him quit
UFC champ Javid Basharat aka ‘The Snow Leopard’ lives up to his name as he is an absolute animal in the ring.
Until very recently, he was undefeated and has made a name for himself being cool, calm and collected in face-offs and then unleashing once the fight begins. He was once called a “terrorist” in a controversial face-off moment, but he stayed chilled, and then absolutely destroyed the guy on fight day with a guillotine choke.
I used to do Kung fu with Javid. We went to the same, pretty rotten school, which I won’t name — and The Snow Leopard and I were in very different crowds.
I started Kung fu when I was 12. I was about 4ft10 and 5st and preferred writing short stories in the library on my break to fighting. The thing was if you couldn’t stand up for yourself in that school you were toast.
Javid had already been doing mixed martial arts for years and often, shall we say, ‘showcased’ them in the playground. He was known as the ‘hardest guy in the year’.
We weren’t paired together in sparring as he was, I recall, a black belt and I was a yellow belt. He had to spar against the adults and I had to spar against the 10-year-olds. One of them broke my nose once.
After a year or so, still a yellow belt, I was chatting to my unexpected mate Javid about school and he said: “If anyone starts on you, I’ll protect you.”
Sweet, I thought — now I can quit Kung fu.
So that’s exactly what I did. I got back to the library and continued writing my stories, safe in the knowledge that I had a personal bodyguard — and Javid continued ‘showcasing’ his fighting skills outside.
Funny because we both now make a living doing those exact things.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
