Too close for comfort, but good enough Boxing is a cruel game. Not because it’s brutal on your body and equally brutal on your soul to inflict pain on another human being, but because of the way it is judged. You can never be sure who wins until the last round. Sitting in the confines of my room, it will be very cruel to judge a fight fought elsewhere, but Vijender Singh did seem a little out of breath at times during his fight against Zulpikar Maimaitiali of China for the Oriental Super Middleweight belt.
Even in the best of times, Vijender hates fighting southpaws. It cuts down the angles for his lethal right. It also exposes his body a trifle, just enough for opponents to land heavy blows on his body.
On Saturday, there were hits on his face – something he trashes as obnoxious. He hates being hit on his face and like a child, protects it from those lethal lumberjacks that have the potential to disfigure the best faces in the world. On Saturday he was bleeding from his nose.
Something not allowed in amateur fights. In the end, coupled with the Chinese not pacing it right – he was a little excited and seemed expended by the sixth round. It seemed very tight.
As he admits, “I thought it would not have lasted that long,” he confesses before rushing to his post-match engagements. “He was very good and strong. The below-belt punches took the wind out of me and it is not easy for a boxer to not get unsettled. It took time for me to come back.”
The nuances of 10-round fights are slowly sinking in. He is slowly shifting from the threeround amateur to 10-round professional fights. The 31-year-old also knew how well Zulpikar fought.
“I must tell he was fantastic and even offered him the belt as a gesture for being such a great fighter,” he says. “I don’t know whether he will accept it.”
Whatever the fight seemed to be, Vijender knows it is not easy in professional boxing. Those victories and knockouts early in his career seem just a sugar-coated pill to the bitterness of pain of close victories and even defeats. The more endearing image will be of Jitender Kumar stepping into the ring after almost five years. The 29-year-old former flyweight looked a little jaded early on but for an Olympian, challenges in professional boxing are less than in amateur.
“I will improve,” he declares. Akhil Kumar, as always, enthralled with his typical low guard and heavy half-step waltz on canvas.
Message of peace after victory over Chinese
Soon after getting the better of his Chinese opponent at ‘Battleground Asia’, Vijender Singh urged for peace amid the Indo-China border stand-off. “I want to give back this belt to Zulpikar. I hope for peace in the border and the message is about peace. That is most important.”