- Vijender Singh is all set for the August 5 bout
- Vijender presented the first match ticket to cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar
- Vijender said he will show China that India is the best
Internet Desk: India’s star pro-boxer and Olympic bronze medalist Vijender Singh will face China’s undefeated, left-handed boxer Zulpikar Maimaitiali with two titles on the line. The all important fight will take place on August 5 in Mumbai.
The Beijing Olympics bronze medallist, has been training hard in Manchester, England under the watchful eyes of his trainer Lee Beard for the bout. Vijender personally went to cricket icon Sachin Tendulakar’s house and presented him the first ticket of the Maha-match.
After that Vijender posted a tweet saying,”The very first ticket of my fight was presented to @sachin_rt . What a good start for us. Get ready for #BattleGroundAsia, everyone.”
Both the boxers will put their WBO titles on the line and whoever wins the match will take both the titles home, as the announcement was made.
Three other Indian boxers Akhil Kumar, Jitender Kumar and Neeraj Gayat will also be seen in action, facing their international rivals, whose names will be announced on the day of fight. It will be 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games gold medalist Akhil Kumar’s debut match as a pro wrestler.
Apart from them, three other Indian boxers- Pardeep Kharera, Dharmender Grewal and Kuldeep Dhanda- will also take on international boxers, whose names will be announced on the fight day.
“I am all set for the August 5 bout. He (Zulpikar) is just a young kid, a southpaw. When he said that he will knock me out, I was laughing. We will show China that we are the best,” the 31-year-old Vijender said at the media conference.
“My training is in great shape. I will again go to Manchester tomorrow and start my training. I will come here (to Mumbai) a week before the fight,” the pugilist added.
Fight organisers, IOS Boxing Promotions, said they had initially planned the fight in March-April, but it did not happen.
Zulpikar expressed confidence of winning against the Indian boxing star, saying he will knock Vijender down.
He has eight bouts against his name, the same as Vijender.
Zulpikar has scored five knock-outs wins and has fought 24 rounds. His last bout was with African boxer Thomas Mashali after which he won his current title of WBO Oriental Super Middleweight Champion last year. He turned towards pro in April 2015.
Vijender, who has remained unbeaten since his debut in professional boxing in 2015, has fought eight bouts with the last one being against former world number 1 boxer Francis Cheka from Tanzania, whom he defended for his title.