With boxing media most of the time so heavily involved with covering big name fighters, we tend to forget some of the younger guys who are up and coming trying to make a name. It’s not till they hit a peak of 10 or so fights that we really begin to turn our attention to them.

A fighter that should be taken note of is Baltimore’s Malik “Iceman” Hawkins out of Baltimore’s Upton Boxing gym, who gets his nickname due to knowing a good amount of Paul Wall songs.

He is currently 4-0, 4KO’s as a pro and went 93-8 as an amateur. Baltimore has seemed to be bringing out some hot talent as of late with guys like Gervonta Davis and now Malik Hawkins.

Our own Lukie Ketelle had the pleasure to interview Hawkins where he talked to us about growing up and gave us a little history on himself.

“Growing up, I had it real, real, real hard.” Said Hawkins, who said his mother was working two jobs when he was a kid. “I was pretty much raised by my two older sisters and my older brother.”

Hawkins made his debut back in November of last year and has fought 4 times already this year, looking to finish strong in the process of getting a fight for next month.

You might not have heard the name before, but it won’t be long until you do. Hawkins campaigns in the welterweight division, A hot division in boxing at the moment and is trained by the well-known trainer, Calvin Ford and Kenny Ellis.

As an amateur, Hawkins highlight year was definitely 2012 as he had a standout of achievements which include: State Silver Gloves Champion, Regional Silver Gloves Champion, National Silver Gloves Champion, State Junior Olympic Champion, Regional Junior Olympic Champion, National Junior Olympics Bronze Medalist and National P.A.L Champion.

In 2014, he also won the State Golden Gloves Championship and Regional Golden Gloves Championship.

Like every fighter, Malik’s goal is to be the best he can be but he’s also mentioned something else he wants to accomplish in the sport.

“To be the best ever! make sure that my family and I can live perfectly comfortable, and also try To beat Floyd Mayweather’s records.”

Something you don’t hear often from the young up and coming prospects of the sport.

At the age of about 6, Hawkins told us about a tragedy in the family that he had to go through.

“When I was about 6, my brother was murdered. He was killed on the 4 of July in the streets. He kind of played a father figure to me” elaborated Malik, who went on to explain how he wanted to be just like his brother.

“Everything he did, I wanted to do. Once he left, I started going down the wrong path. When I was about 8, I started getting into a lot of fights, just a whole lot of fights. I was the new kid in the new neighborhood and everybody wanted to try me.”

Coming from the city of Baltimore, we asked Malik what it meant for him to represent Baltimore. With the recent activity that has shed light on the city, Malik goes on to say that its not a bad city at all.

“I would love to represent Baltimore because I’m going to be a standout. I would love too you know, we are not a bad city. We really are not a bad city. People just make mistakes.”