A knockout blow in the political ring, followed by a knockout win in the boxing ring. It has been a mixed year for Indian boxing sensation Vijender Singh who celebrates his 34th birthday on 29 October 2019.
Fighting the Lok Sabha election from South Delhi on a Congress ticket in May 2019, Vijender had to forfeit his deposit after an embarrassing defeat. Two months later, Vijender was back to doing what he does best. He claimed a Technical Knockout against Mike Snider of US in his American professional debut fight.
Currently, Vijender is training in Manchester under his trainer Lee Beard. The super-middleweight boxer is gearing up for his Middle East professional debut. The 33-year-old will be next seen in action in Dubai on 22 November but his opponent is yet to be decided.
The boxer has been sharing pictures from his practice sessions in England on social media.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for me to showcase my skills and to keep active as I continue my world title quest," Vijender had said last week.
"I was proud of my last performance back in July, but I was coming off a long layoff. I am rounding into form, and fans are going to see the best version of Vijender Singh when I fight in Dubai," he added.
Vijender has remained unbeaten since turning professional in 2015. He has 11 wins to his name which include 8 knockouts. During this period, Vijender has won and successfully retained the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title and WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title.
Prior to turning professional, Vijender had an illustrious career in amateur boxing. He was the first Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal when he clinched bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Apart from the Olympic bronze, Vijender has two silver and a bronze to his name at the Commonwealth Games. He has also won a gold at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian games and a silver at the 2006 edition.
Owing to his boxing, Vijender has been honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award which is India's highest sporting honour as well as the Padma Shri which is the fourth highest civilian honour.
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