We are incredibly excited to welcome William Ingham as Hoodlum 1 and Noah Merhi as Hoodlum 2 to Fenech – The Jeff Fenech Story. These are the kinds of roles that may not wear the spotlight for long, but they are absolutely vital to the emotional and dramatic machinery of the film. In the early part of Jeff’s journey, before titles, world belts and national recognition, there was chaos, anger, instinct, and the dangerous pull of the streets. Noah and William step directly into that world, playing two young men who are part of the energy, pressure, bravado and recklessness that surround Jeff in his formative years.

What makes these characters so important is that they live right on the edge of Jeff’s turning point. They are not just there to fill out the frame. They represent the life Jeff is living at that moment — the mates who run with him, laugh with him, stir him on, and exist in that wild, impulsive world where trouble is always only seconds away. They are part of the pack, part of the adrenaline, part of the identity Jeff has built for himself before boxing gives him a different path. In many ways, these characters help define what Jeff is trying to outrun, and what he also still belongs to when we first meet him as a young man.

Their presence becomes especially powerful around the Newtown Police Boys Club sequences, where Jeff arrives still carrying all the heat and damage of the streets. In these scenes, Hoodlum 1 and Hoodlum 2 are right there with him, moving through the corridors, searching, pushing forward, talking him up, and backing his bravado. They egg him on when he steps toward the ring, and in doing so they become part of one of the most important moments in Jeff Fenech’s life — the exact instant he collides with Johnny Lewis. What begins as another reckless day with his mates suddenly becomes the day his future changes. That contrast is what makes these roles so strong. Noah and William are playing the last echoes of one life just as another begins.

There is also something deeply human about these characters. They are not villains. They are not caricatures. They are young guys from the same world, shaped by the same streets, carrying the same restless energy and hunger for identity. That is why their role in Jeff’s life matters. They are a reflection of where he came from. They remind us that Jeff did not emerge from nowhere as a champion — he emerged from a real environment, with real mates, real danger, and real crossroads. To tell Jeff’s story honestly, you need those people around him. You need to feel the texture of that world. That is exactly why these two roles matter so much.

Noah Merhi and William Ingham bring that world to life for us. They help ground the early Jeff Fenech story in something raw, lived-in and authentic. Their characters carry the spirit of the streets, but they also help frame the moment where Jeff’s fists begin to mean something different. Without these young men at his side, that transition does not land with the same force. We are thrilled to have Noah and William on board, and we cannot wait for audiences to meet Hoodlum 1 and Hoodlum 2 — two small but powerful pieces of the puzzle in the making of a fighter, and in the making of Jeff Fenech.