Manny-Floyd out... India gets boxing champ, and Pakistan's Amir Khan ready for dream showdown

Indian boxing star Vijender Singh has become an instant hit after making a spectacular professional debut by knocking out Britain's Sonny Whiting in the WBO middleweight category at the Manchester Arena on Saturday.

Vijender won the contest with a few seconds left in the third of the four-round bout via Technical Knockout, stunning Whiting with a combination of jabs and uppercuts before the referee stepped in to stop the one-sided bout.

"I am very happy for this win. It's just a beginning as I have to go a long way. I will work more hard and have to be professional champion one day," declared India's first Olympic and World Championships medallist boxer who is being touted as the next biggest boxing star.

With unbeaten American Floyd Mayweather having virtually hung up his gloves and Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao in the twilight of his career, Indian boxing fans are eager to see a match-up between Singh and British boxer Amir Khan who is of Pakistan origin.

An Indo-Pak duel would be the next mega fight especially if it takes place in the Middle East where a large number of expatriates from the subcontinent are concentrated.

Even a contest between eight-division champion Pacquiao and Singh would be a tremendous crowd puller due to the presence of the Filipino community in the Gulf.

However, the only hitch is that both Khan and Pacquiao, who are in talks for a high stakes contest early next year, would have to move up from welterweight to fight Indian Singh.
 
Meanwhile, the strapping 29 year-old six-footer from Haryana has vowed to continue winning and is set to fight next on October 30 in Harrow.

"Thanks to all my fans. My next fight will be Oct 30 in Harrow, enjoy it. It's new for me but I've been working hard. It's going well, I want to win. That's just the beginning," he has been quoted Vijender as saying.

Singh counts actor Salman Khan and Taapsee Pannu among his legion of fan as they took to twitter to cheer Vijender for his debut in professional boxing.

all d best @boxervijender for ur first pro fight tmrw . wl watch n cheer .

— Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) October 9, 2015

Although he appeared calm as he strolled into the ring to Punjabi music, Vijender admitted he was nervous.

“I wasn’t worried about my opponent or anything. It was simply because I hadn’t boxed in a ring for a really long time. I had last boxed at the Commonwealth Games, and after that I had been doing my police training and then I had some film and TV commitments,” he said.

But all that changed when the bell sounded.

“The moment I got into the ring and came forward, I felt I would be all right,” said Vijender who does not want to sit on his laurels.

“I know there are so many areas that I have to work on. My defence has to get better, and I need to throw many more jabs to the body. In the amateurs you focus on punching the head so was doing that initially,” said Singh who proved his many sceptics wrong by turning professional.

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