Yoddhas edge Warriors in final
Maratha Yoddhas edged out Haryana Warriors 10-9 in the final to win the inaugural edition of the Super Boxing League at Siri Fort’s Squash & Badminton arena in the capital on Saturday.
It were Marathas who started the final fight night on the front foot as they won the first two bouts through Sandeep Singh and Andy Chuaua to give their team a 6-0 lead.
However, Haryana bounced back after Suman Kumari, Sandeep Nain and Sukhdeep Singh won their bouts to take a 96 lead after five bouts.
The turning point of the match was in the last bout when Sandeep Chhikara won by a technical knock out to win the league for his team, Maratha.
The first bout was between debutant Sandeep Singh from the Maratha and Naveen Nehra from Haryana in the featherweight category.
Sandeep hit some great moves and combinations on Nehra to win by a unanimous decision to give his side a 3-0 lead.
In the second bout, it was up to Haryana’s Parmod Kumar to cut down the lead for his team as he faced Andy Chuaua from the Yoddhas in the welterweight category.
However, the Warriors’ man did not succeed as Andy Chuaua won by a split decision after four rounds, allowing the Yoddhas to extend their lead to 6 points.
In the third bout, it was the Warriors’ Suman Kumari who faced Lalnunfeli in the superfly category.
The latter began aggressively but Kumari kept her composure to make a comeback in the last two rounds to win the match by a unanimous decision, which saw the Warriors open their account on the night.
In the fourth bout, it was the Warriors’ Sandeep Nain who caused an upset when he beat Yoddhas skipper Deepak Tanwar in the middleweight category.
Coming into the match, Tanwar had won all his four bouts in the SBL, but it was Nain who won help the Warriors equalise at 6-6 after four bouts.
The fifth match was a supermiddle weight category bout between Yoddhas’ Vivek Jangra and Warriors’ Sukhdeep Singh.
The 22-year old Singh beat Jangra by a unanimous decision to take a 9-6 lead.
In the last bout Yoddhas’ Sandeep Chhikara had to win against Jagdeep Singh of the Warriors in the heavyweight category.
Chhikara started aggressively and took down Singh four times, forcing the referee to award the contest to him by a technical knockout, paving the way for the Yoddhas’ title win.