Why we’re backing Corrie Mustafa

Most fighters on a small hall card have a story about how they got there. Very few have one like Corrie Mustafa’s.

On Saturday 28 November, Corrie headlines ZUMI 7.0 at The Lighthouse Theatre in a Zumi Fight House title eliminator. Win it, and his next fight is for the title. I am proud to say SHWDWN is sponsoring him.

Who is Corrie Mustafa?

Corrie is a boxer from Watford, and you will know him as COZA if you have seen the name across his shorts. He grew up with ADHD, Asperger’s and Tourette’s, was heavily medicated as a teenager, and was raised mostly by his grandparents. Secondary school meant being badly bullied. At 16 he moved into supported living.

Things got harder before they got better. When a relationship ended, Corrie became homeless and was placed in temporary accommodation, living alongside people dealing with serious mental illness and addiction. He went through a period of depression bad enough that he tried to admit himself to psychiatric care.

There was a 24 hour gym near where he was staying. He started going because it gave him somewhere to put everything, and it is where the boxing started.

How boxing became his medicine

Corrie has written about that time himself, in a piece for the men’s mental health charity HeadsUpGuys called How boxing became my medicine. It is worth reading in full. Boxing did not fix everything overnight. What it gave him was structure, something to work towards, and a reason to keep showing up.

His first fights were on charity white collar nights. Then he walked into an amateur gym at 26, surrounded by fighters years younger than him, with no coach to start with. He lost his first competitive fight on a decision that could have gone either way, and lost the next one on points.

Plenty of people stop there. Corrie kept going, and has won both of his fights in 2026.

He has also brought other people with him. When a neighbour was struggling with addiction, Corrie got him down to the gym, and it helped him too. These days Corrie speaks publicly about neurodiversity, mental health and recovery, and he is open about all of it on his Instagram and TikTok.

Back at The Lighthouse

Corrie lost at The Lighthouse last year. In July he went back to the same venue for Zumi Fight House League 6.0, and won in about 40 seconds. You can watch the whole night back for free.

Since then he has been in camp, including a week in August training at Sugars Boxing Academy in North Cyprus. On 28 November he is back in Camberwell again, this time in the main event, with a shot at the title on the line.

Why we’re sponsoring him

SHWDWN exists to get fighters seen and paid, and Corrie is exactly the kind of fighter we built it for. He is not on a big promoter’s books. He is a fighter on a small hall card, doing it the hard way, with a following that turns up because they know what it took him to get there.

His story is also a reminder of what boxing actually does for people at this level. For a lot of fighters on these cards, the gym is the thing holding everything else together. Corrie talks about that openly, and the more people hear it, the more people might walk into a gym when they need one.

So we are putting our name behind him. Over the next few weeks we will be putting Corrie in front of fight fans across the SHWDWN app and our socials on the way to fight night.

How to watch Corrie fight

ZUMI 7.0 is on Saturday 28 November 2026 at The Lighthouse Theatre, 262-274 Camberwell Road, London SE5 0AY. Get your tickets on SHWDWN, and if you are going for Corrie, pick him at checkout so your ticket counts to him. Follow Zumi Fight House to hear about every card first.

If anything in Corrie’s story sounds familiar, HeadsUpGuys is a good place to start.