It’s 9pm on a sweaty May evening at London’s Scala nightclub and Hamza Buhari must knock out his opponent in the next three minutes or lose his king. The 28-year-old pharmacist from London is taking on Lithuania’s Tadas Ceponis at chessboxing, a mash-up of two sports, in which competitors win by checkmate on the board or knockout in the ring. The bell ends the third round and Mr Buhari is just a few moves from defeat, forcing him to go for broke with his fists. As Mr Ceponis takes a rain of blows, the referee stops the fight, awarding victory to Mr Buhari.