It is appropriate that a man called Dickens would be behind one of the greatest British boxing stories ever told.

James, or ‘Jazza’ to just about everybody since his cousin first called him it when he was 5, has been boxing for more than two decades now, operating consistently against the odds.

For most outside Liverpool boxing circles, his first act on the wider stage was in June 2012, when he appeared in a much-loved docuseries called “Knockout Scousers,” which chartered the rise of three of the city’s best fighters in the leadup to the London Olympics later that summer.

There was Natasha Jonas, 28, who would go on to lose in the quarterfinals to Katie Taylor, Tom Stalker, 27, who was Team GB’s boxing captain at the same games, and then there was Jazza.

At just 19, he was by far the youngest of the triumvirate, but had designs on qualifying for the Olympics, having won the ABAs in 2010. But his backstory and the circumstances in which the audience found him was like something from a Victorian novel and manna from heaven for photographer Steve Read, making his directorial debut.

“My mum lives in a flat,” Dickens said, taking up the story. “It was two floors, but we lived on one of them and the second one, upstairs, was basically derelict. It was bad up there. There were pigeons living up there and they made a mess everywhere, really it should have been condemned.”

Instead, the enterprising young Dickens decided it would be the best place for him to build a ring out of chipboard, with ropes made from a load of Tesco bags wrapped together.

“I tied them all together and then taped over them,” he said. “That was my idea for ropes.”

In the documentary, you see the teenage Jazza shadowboxing in the ring, among the pigeon droppings, as he seeks a way out of the life he knew. It was well-documented that his childhood was badly affected by paternal drug use.

“We were the heroin family,” he once said. “That was our story.”

Determined to write his own ending, Dickens pressed on. Unlike Jonas and Stalker, he missed out on the Olympics and turned professional early instead. You watch a kid finding God, helping out the Sisters of Mercy and emerging from those years punctuated by the chaos of drug use.

It was nothing like plain sailing in the pros, however, despite an elevated level of fame prescribed by the documentary. He boxed 13 times in his first two years as a professional, earning little or no money, and then he was beaten by Kid Galahad when he challenged for the British junior featherweight title in September 2013.

Dickens rebuilt with six more wins before back-to-back defeats against the great Guillermo Rigondeaux and Thomas Patrick Ward sent him to the back of the queue again.

As of today, Dickens has five defeats on his record, but he reached the promised land late last year. He was elevated from the WBA’s interim belt-holder to champion of the world, when the sanctioning body stripped Lamont Roach of its 130-pound strap.

It was not exactly a Hollywood ending. Then again, the 34-year-old Dickens is nowhere near finished.

He will defend a world title for the first time in his life Saturday night, when he faces Anto Cacace at Dublin’s 3Arena. Despite his position as champion, Dickens is yet again the underdog with those responsible for setting the odds.

But the Liverpudlian will still feel like the home fighter against the Belfast man, given his close association with Ireland’s capital. There was a time when he called Dublin home and lived in the back of a Vauxhall Vivaro transit van, on a road adjacent to the arena.

He would wake up in the morning, open the back doors and make his way to Peter Taylor’s gym, where he would shower and do his training. Every day he’d look at the 3Arena and wonder if he would ever box there.

Now, a few years on, the next chapter of this incredible story will involve his arrival at the venue as world champion – and it won’t be in a transit van.

While the gongs were being dished out at Sunday’s British Boxing Board of Control Awards luncheon, a heartwarming conversation took place at a table towards the back of the room.

Conor Benn privately made his way over to speak to Duke McKenzie following their much-publicized spat last year. McKenzie, Britain’s first three-weight world champion, accused Benn of berating him in public at an IBA event in Dubai in December.

Benn was said to have taken objection to some of McKenzie’s previous comments on his failed drug tests in 2022 and sought to confront him that day.

“He just went off on one,” McKenzie said. “Quite aggressively I might add.”

But there was none of that Sunday, as Benn, kneeling by McKenzie’s chair, chatted quietly with the 62-year-old in a video circulated by boxing pundit Spencer Fearon. It is said that the pair shook hands, made up and moved on. Fair play.

Social media went mental on Sunday when a video of two-time Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones’ emphatic boxing debut did the rounds.

Jones, who claimed Olympic gold in 2012 and 2016, traded taekwondo for boxing last year, fought on the Misfits show in Derby on Saturday night and faced a singer called Egypt Criss. But this looked like a contest between a person with two decades of combat experience against a singer called Egypt Criss.

The chilling knockout, via a double left hook from Jones’ southpaw stance, left Criss face down, out cold.

Even 50 Cent reposted the clip to his 38.9 million followers on Instagram. “Craziest knockout of 2026!!!” screams the DAZN Combat headline on the video, which has already racked up more than 100,000 views.

Of course it was the dream start for Jones, trained by Liverpool’s Stephen Smith, as she embarks on her new career.

This column understands that Jones’ immediate future lies with Misfits, which is still not licensed by the British Boxing Board of Control, with a handful more fights planned. Then, it is likely she will step into the world of MF Pro, which is behind the April 4 clash between Derek Chisora and Deontay Wilder.

But given the 32-year-old’s personality, star power and obvious ability, let’s not waste too much time icing popstars. Let’s get Jones on the ladder in professional boxing and potentially on her way to a world title in a second sport before it’s too late.