KOCHI: Kamal Mujtaba was a national level amateur boxer when he decided to turn pro almost a decade ago. Long before Olympic bronze medalist Vijender Singh took the professional route, Kamal tried to do it and failed miserably. However, with the sport gaining some recognition among the masses, he now wants to nurture world champions from India. “When I started out, people used to ask me if boxing was WWE,” said Kamal, who was in the city recently looking at the prospects of promoting the sport and scouting talents from the state. “I moved to Hong Kong and worked as a waiter to find a promoter to launch my pro career. I was my manager, coach and matchmaker back then,” he said.
Kamal did turn pro and fought around 15 bouts in India, but he only gained recognition after he quit as a boxer. “I fought in 15 matches, but nobody knew me. After an injury cut short my career, I started focussing on using boxing as a fitness tool,” said Kamal who hails from Kolkata. His fortunes changed in 2012 after he was roped in to train celebrities in the Super Fight League, a Mixed Martial Arts league launched by actor Sanjay Dutt and businessman Raj Kundra. The 33-year-old now has names like Shahid Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha as his trainees.
“I am now quite known in the boxing circles and I want to use this to promote more fighter from the country,” said Kamal. “You can’t make it big in boxing with just talent. You need proper promotion. A place like Kerala has a lot of untapped potential. If we can scout talent, build their record and promote them, we can make champions out of the state,” he said. He plans to scout talents from Kerala and train them at the Cult Club, a chain of fitness clubs in Bengaluru, where he is the head coach in boxing. He also plans to join hands with clubs in Kerala who are interested in his project.
“I went around and connected with boxers who competed at national and state levels and were finding it hard to make a living without a job. Now, we have around 40 such boxers who had quit but are now back training people and some even looking to make a comeback to professional boxing,” said Kamal.
Kamal plans to conduct celebrity boxing fights in Bengaluru and Kochi to raise the stock of the sport. “I have talked to a few actors in Kerala who are willing to collaborate in the project,” said Kamal who also wants people to take up the sport as a fitness activity.
“Boxing is an excellent high-speed workout if you are looking to lose weight. It is also an outlet to release your aggression and to have better coordination. I know a lot of people who were lacking in confidence gaining it after learning how to fight,” he added.