Dan Azeez hops on one of the gym’s stationary bikes and looks out across the two rings in front of him.

To his right, Uisma Lima, only a few weeks out from a potentially life-changing fight with Jaron Ennis, spars a tall, skilful southpaw from England. To his left, his close friend and fellow Londoner Denzel Bentley finishes the last round of his session to a smattering of applause from those watching.

It is one of those days where it seems like there are a hundred boxers milling around the gym, staying warm for their next round or straight out of a hard one themselves, hitting the bag or shadow-boxing with one eye on the ring. The sort of day that would seem bizarre to a civilian.

Azeez, half watching the action, keeps peddling slowly. He has already completed his rounds for the day and is now in the process of cooling down his 36-year-old body, which looks devoid of any fat but well above his 175-pound fighting weight. “It won’t look this big on the morning of the weigh-in,” he says with a smile.

On paper, 2024 was a miserable year for Azeez. As 2023 came to a close, Azeez was a 20-0 light-heavyweight with British, Commonwealth and European titles already secured. He cancelled Christmas that year, with his south London derby, a final eliminator for the world title, against Joshua Buatsi scheduled for Feb. 3, 2024.

The pair combined to produce an enthralling 12 rounds but Azeez, who touched down briefly in the 11th, lost on all three cards. He returned to the ring four months later but failed to get back to winning ways against the unheralded Hrvoje Sep, who held him to a draw over eight rounds at Selhurst Park.

Then, last October, he was handed the chance to win back the vacant British and Commonwealth titles but dropped an agonisingly close majority decision against Lewis Edmondson at the Copper Box. It was the sort of year that some other 36-year-olds may have retired after.

But not Azeez. “That Buatsi fight,” he says, still smiling. “It was probably one of my best fights. I’ll be honest, I loved that fight. Then the draw and the loss to Edmondson, I thought I won them, too.

“It was a rocky year but do you know what? I don’t see them as losses. They’re just learning.

“This is life, everyone goes through stuff, people are going through much worse things right now. I feel privileged that I even get to box at all.

“I can never ever look at my losses and start acting all privileged and getting down. I have to take the ups with the downs because it is all experience.”

Even so, were there any thoughts of retirement after two wins and a draw during 2024?

“Not one,” he says quickly. “I never thought about retiring because this is what life is all about. This is what makes you a fighter, when these things happen, how do you bounce back? How do you react?”

In Azeez’s case, the 21st victory of his career came in April when he beat the journeyman Bahadur Karami over six rounds on a Thursday night in Glasgow, Scotland. It was a low-key evening in the scheme of things but huge for Azeez.

“My favourite fighter is Marvin Hagler and he first fought for the world title against Vito Antuofermo but didn’t get the decision,” Azeez says, of their 1979 draw for the WBC middleweight belt.

“From then on, he said his fists would be the judges and went on a mad knockout spree, won the world titles and is now considered one of the greatest of all time. What kind of bounce back is that? He could have just sobbed.

“I’m in my Marvin Hagler era, man. Definitely. How do I bounce back from my adversity? It’s up to me now.”

Although his form in 2024 has left him off the pace in the race for world titles, Azeez has been offered the chance of something he considers even better. He is now at an age where he is thinking about how he might be remembered once he decides to hang up his gloves and an outing in Lagos, Nigeria would be a huge tick on his bucket list.

As part of the Chaos in the Ring event at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Lagos on Nigeria Independence Day, Azeez will face Sulaimon Adeosun (11-2, 7 KOs). It will be the first time his dad, a proud Nigerian, will get the chance to see him box.

Azeez, who has a degree in accounting and finance, was never supposed to box. His parents had him ear-marked for more academic pursuits and were initially worried about their son fighting. “They grew up in that era of seeing what happened to people like Michael Watson, Gerald McClellan,” Azeez explains. “So they didn’t want me to box.”

As it happened, he started boxing as an amateur alongside his degree at the University of Essex and got stopped inside a minute on his debut. His parents had no idea.

“My mum didn’t even know I was a professional boxer until one of her mates phoned her and said ‘we just saw Dan on Sky’,” he says. “She asked me what was going on and I told her ‘yeah mum I’m like 14-0 now and it’s all going well’. She thought it was a hobby.”

Neither his mum or dad have ever watched him fight but that will change on October 1 and Azeez admits there is some trepidation because of it.

“My dad is back and forth but he bases himself in Nigeria,” he says. “He is coming to this and it will be the first time in my life either of my parents have been ringside. With my dad being there, I’m like anyone, I want to make him proud.

“But the best thing about it is that it’s not a fight in London I’m inviting him to, I’m going back home to our native land and I’m fighting on it. And it’s not just any show, it’s a big one, it’s on DAZN. The biggest one in Nigeria I can remember.

“So I’m just excited, man. It feels like I’m fighting for a world title. I had offers, more lucrative offers, but this one took priority. This is legacy, this is about what people will remember and what will go down in history for me.

“That’s what is fuelling the fire for me. They have big plans for boxing in Nigeria and this is the first big one. This is where it is starting and now they can say ‘Dan Azeez was on that first show’. That means a lot to me.”