Against an unbeaten, younger Zulpikar Maimaitiali, Vijender Singh faces a stiff challenge

‘It’s the biggest fight of his career.’

If you had been following Vijender Singh’s professional boxing career till August 5, 2017, you would know that this is not a new statement. His fight with Kerry Hope, the Australian, was the biggest. Then his fight with Francis Cheka, the Tanzanian, was the biggest. These were two veterans of the pro-boxing world who were challenging a guy, who was still trying to make a name for himself.

On Saturday, when he takes on Zulpikar Maimaitiali at ‘Battleground Asia,’ will that remain the same?

Let’s weigh the facts. Vijender’s two previous title fights were against older boxers, they were against boxers who had so many more rounds under their belt than Vijender, they were against boxers with a proven pedigree.

Vijender has to take on younger fighters

On Saturday, when he takes on Zulpikar, a 23-year-old with nine professional bouts besides his name, you could be excused for being a little underwhelmed by it.

“That’s not true, it’s actually a big deal for the either of them to take this fight,” says Lee Beard, Vijender’s trainer, to The Field. “Two undefeated boxers taking on each other is not that common in the professional circuit and in that sense it’s unique that Zulpikar, a young fighter who already had a title to his name, accepted Vijender’s challenge.”

This fight with Zulpikar was originally supposed to happen on April 1, 2017. And for reasons yet unclear, that never happened. After Vijender’s stellar performance against Cheka in December, there might have been more expected of India’s star in the months since. Yet, nothing concrete materialised.

The promoters behind Vijender concede that this fight has taken longer than it should have to materialise. For a 31-year-old, any months lost is crucial in the circuit. But IOS Boxing Promotions’ CEO, Neerav Tomar, insists that this where he wants Vijender to be.

“To move up the ladder, Vijender has to take on younger fighters, those with better pedigree, and Zulpikar fits that bill,” Tomar tells The Field. “To move towards the world title, which is the end objective, we have to choose opponents in a way that would give Vijender the boost in rankings. Zulpikar holds the Oriental title, and we have to win that back, to prove that Vijender is capable of challenging for, say, the commonwealth title or the intercontinental title or the world title eventually. We have to move up the rankings, we have to prove that we are the undisputed champions in Asia, so that we can push his case for challenging bigger fighters.”

Unbeaten record against unbeaten record

Lee Beard has a more realistic approach to the situation. He says that Vijender has to go through the rungs to prove to the world that he is capable of taking on bigger fights and defeating Zulpikar becomes crucial in that sense because he is taking on a younger guy who thinks he has a legitimate shot at being the world champion one day.

“Professional boxing is full of ups and downs and in the past few months that it has taken for us to land this fight, Vijender has been fully understanding of that fact and trained accordingly,” Beard says. “He was training for the fight to be in April and when it turned out the fight got cancelled, and then got re-signed again, he came back in the same shape as he went away. That tells me he is in this for the long haul,” Beard adds.

Vijender will look to clinch his second title and keep his unbeaten record intact when he takes on an undefeated Zulpikar, but the 31-year-old former Olympic bronze-medallist has maintained that he will be able to overcome his opponent.

The man from Bhiwani will be fighting his ninth professional fight in Mumbai on Saturday, with the who’s who of the celebrity world in attendance, and on the line would be his WBO Asia-Pacific super middleweight title, along with Zulpikar’s WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title.

Confident as he always is, Vijender said he expected to win the fight. “This is India versus China, I don’t need anything and I am excited, I know the whole of India is with me,” he said at the weigh-in on Friday.

Reunion of the class of Beijing 2008

The Indian makes it clear that his strategy would be to be responsive to how his opponent manoeuvers the bout.

“My strategy will depend on how he plays, I will set my game according to him. We have changed a lot in technique and we have worked on it,” he said. “I am experienced. I don’t consider him as an experienced boxer, he is young, but he is a strong kid and we are ready for it.”

Battleground Asia is also special for the reunion of the class of Beijing 2008. There will be seven other bouts on the day, where the Olympian duo of Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar will be making their professional debuts.

But ultimately, it’s all about what Vijender Singh. Whether the man can continue his unbeaten run and keep his somewhat delayed pursuit of a world title on track. In that sense, this could, once again, be dubbed the biggest fight of Vijender’s pro-boxing career, could it not?

“Yeah absolutely. If you look at the belts on the line, if you look at the records of the two fighters and if you consider what’s at stake for the winner, this is Vijender’s biggest fight till date, there’s no doubt about it,” says Tomar.

The lead-up to the fight did not convey that feeling. Compared to Cheka saying he will end Vijender’s career and the Indian murmuring into his trainer’s ears that he wants to punch the Tanzanian during the face-off, the mood before Vijender versus Zulpikar was benign. The duo looked at each other with a smile on their face, Vijender asked his opponent about the hat he was wearing, a few glances were exchanged – end of.

But here’s the thing. Despite how the match-up looks on paper, and how underplayed the lead up has been, such is the life of a professional boxer that every subsequent fight that preserves your unbeaten record becomes the most important fight. The pedigree of the opponent or the experience he comes in to the fight with doesn’t matter, as long as Vijender can remain unbeaten and keep himself on course to bigger titles, every other fight becomes the most important in his career.

Saturday’s ‘Battleground Asia’ will be no different.