Vijender adds another win, retains twin titles
INVINCIBLE Vijender has now extended his unbeaten professional record to 100
JAIPUR: Vijender Singh belatedly went into the offensive, successfully defending his WBO Oriental and Asia Pacific Super Middleweight titles with a unanimous verdict over Ghanaian Ernest Amuzu here on Saturday..
The victory helped Vijender extend his winning record to 10-0 since turning pro in 2015.
The 32-year-old Olympic bronze medallist has so far enjoyed a good run in the professional career. He had won his previous nine bouts without too much difficulty, and Saturday night was no different at a jampacked Sawai Mansingh Stadium as he emerged victorious in a bout billed the ‘Rajasthan Rumble’.
CAUTIOUS START
It was a cautious first round from both in the 10-round bout, and barring a few jabs here and there, both tried to read each other’s styles.
Vijender seemed to find his bearing only when the sixth round started.
He landed some hard punches on Amuzu’s rib cage to take control of the bout. Amuzu returned the favour with a few of his own, but the West African Boxing Union Middleweight champion could not sustain the tempo against his determined opponent.
A confident Vijender then turned up with renewed vigour to unleash a flurry of punches on Amuzu. Two powerful jabs on Amuzu’s jaw must have hurt the African, but he responded with a hook aimed at Vijender’s head.
EASY PICKINGS
It was easy picking for Vijender thereafter as the Amuzu com- mitted technical blunders by rushing to the corners.
With Vijender having the upper hand, a tired Amuzu tried to stage a fightback but the Indian was up to the task even as the duo exchanged a few punches.
Vijender played a percentage game during the final round when he had suffered a muscle pull and didn’t attack a lot.
Prior to this bout, Amuzu had 23 wins under his belt, with 21 knockouts, out of 25 fights.
In the under-card bouts, Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Amandeep Singh defeated Punjab’s Manoj Kumar. Kuldeep Dhanda beat Fateh Singh, Pradeep Kharera beat Nikhil Sharma and Dharmender Grewal beat Harsh Nagar.