After MMA fling, Mann finds true love

POSING FOR a group picture on the terrace of plush city hotel, mixed martial arts fighter Pawan Mann looked a bit out of place. In the frame with him was an Olympian, a WBC Asia Welterweight Champion and a Commonwealth Games medalist boxer. Pawan was the lone MMA practitioner, but he will be soon seen donning a different pair of gloves. Pawan is among the 13 new athletes signedbyiosboxingpromotions.pawan,who began his fighting career as an boxer and later moved on to the more lucrative MMA circuit has decided to do a ghar wapsi as he calls it.

The 29-year-old Delhi-based fighter took up boxing when he was 14. He fared decently, but lost hope after failing to break into the top echelons. “My career was stagnant,” he says.

Disappointed, he decided to pursue a “steadier job” with the Central Reserve Police Force, but within three months he resigned. “It was not my thing,” is his one line explanation for the move. “There was a lot of pressure from my family to remain with the CRPF but I had already decided,” he asserts.

It’s really hard to gauge the psyche of fighter and Pawan is no exception. “I am returningtoboxingbecauseilovetogethit.that’s right,there’s a pleasure in getting hit too. But trust me I won’t lose any fight,” he says .

He is mostly laidback, but he will surprise you with verbal jabs. He began the interaction with a disclaimer, “Dekhk bhai, mein Indian hoon, Hindi mein sawal poochna!”

Pawan and the other fighters have been promised six fights. For him, it’s a new start altogether. After quitting CRPF he worked as a fitnessinstructoratagym-chainindelhi.afew years into his new profile, he witnessed his peer Rajinder Singh break into MMA. “Ghar walebole,agaarwohkarsaktatohtuukyonnahi. Pawanwasmorethanreadytotaketheplunge, but there was one huge hindrance, he didn’t possestheskillsformma.luckilyforhim,one of his trainees, a doctor by profession, was a practitioner of jiu-jitsu.

Being a former boxer played in his favour, and he found acceptance. “Most fighters feared me because they knew I could box.” After completing his MMA duties (he has still two fights left), Pawan will soon start training in the IOS’ proposed facility in Gurgaon. He knows pro boxing is whole new challenge. But this isn’t the first time he’s taking up a new job.