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Indian boxing’s poster boy, Vijender Singh, is about to test uncharted waters as he becomes the first Indian boxer to be part of a major boxing promotion. He will make his professional debut on October 10th against English boxer Sonny Whiting in Manchester.
Vijender is acutely aware that pro-boxing is a different kind of beast altogether. His success in the amateur format has not made him complacent in his approach, as evidenced by his relocation to Manchester to train under renowned boxing trainer Lee Beard.
The 2008 Olympic bronze medallist is confident and ambitious, proving so by saying that he wanted to replicate Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao’s achievements in boxing, reports NDTV.com. Vijender got a shot-in-the-arm when he recently met his inspiration, British former boxer ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed at the Manchester United vs Arsenal match at the Emirates Stadium.
Vijender said,” Naseem Hamed was massive, massive, influence on my career, he was my idol and the reason I got into boxing. He was awesome. Everything about him, the ring entrances, the knockout power, the entertainment, he was a superstar, everybody around the world watched him fight.”
He added, “ It was a real honour to meet him at the Emirates Stadium face-to-face and have a good chat with him. Of course, he has been on top of the boxing world and the advice he gave was very sound and I took it all in as I'm now starting out on my professional career.”
Hamed, who is a 2015 inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, believes that Vijender has all the right stuff to become as big as Pacquiao, who is an eight-division World Champion. Vijender said, “Manny (Pacquiao) is a major Asian star and he said there is no reason why I cannot become just as big as him, but first and foremost I'm a boxer and it is what I do in the ring that counts, everything else is secondary.”
Despite criticism for choosing a professional career over representing his nation, Vijender believes his pioneering move is only the beginning of the emergence of Indian professional boxers. He voiced the following thoughts,” Professional boxing is just starting now in India and I believe that in the next few years you will start seeing some very good professional boxers coming through on the world scene.”
