A teenage boxing champion is behind bars for smashing a man in the face with his fist during a drunken row.

Luqman Nazir, 19, was locked up for 21 months by a judge who told him he “chose to deploy his skill and strength outside the ring”.

Nazir, a Leeds City Champion boxer, was released from a custodial sentence for battery only weeks before he punched Aftab Hussain, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Mr Hussain, 21, suffered a broken cheekbone and swelling and bruising to his eye. He needed surgery to insert screws and a plate into his face.

Nazir, of Farcliffe Place, Manningham, Bradford, told the police Mr Hussain must have inflicted the injuries on himself, the court heard.

He then pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm in the attack at Northcliffe Park, Shipley, on December 23 last year.