Vijender Singh has been a path-breaker in more ways than one. He was the first ever Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal, the first among Indian male boxers to win a World championship medal and the first pugilist to make a name for himself in the world of film and television.
Vijender may not be the first boxer from the country to turn professional, but he is the biggest to do so. The number of headlines he has made over the last 10 days following his decision to quit amateur boxing a year before the Rio Olympics speak a lot about the iconic boxer's impact.
Nine days after Vijender's bold decision, a prominent boxing administrator, Brig. P.K. Muralidharan Raja, floating a body – Indian Boxing Council (IBC) – to promote professional boxing has come as an interesting development.
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Even though Infinity Optimal Solutions (IOS), which facilitated Vijender’s signing with the Queensberry Promotions in the U.K. and tied up with IBC as its commercial partner, maintains that these are “impromptu'” developments, it is not hard to fathom the wind of change.
Especially when the national federation governing amateur boxing in the country has become as good as defunct due to its internal squabbles and the boxers are suffering due to the near-collapse of the domestic competitive structure, the road opened by Vijender and Raja may inspire many boxers to switch to professional boxing to satisfy their hunger for fights and make some money for their future.
Vijender’s drastic step may have shocked many. But for one who has been following his career keenly over the years, it is not a surprise at all. Right after winning the bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Vijender had told this reporter about his ultimate ambition of turning professional. Highly inspired by the Sylvester Stallone-portrayed Rocky Balboa, Vijender was always attracted towards the glamorous side of boxing and kept track of the latest trends in professional boxing.
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“Like the Indian Premier League in cricket, soon there is going to one Boxing Professional League in England. People are showing a lot of interest in it and it is going to be a big hit. In India, I think there should be a professional league,” Vijender had said seven years ago.
After opening a “new chapter”' in his life, he was quite excited. '”I want to perform for my country at the global level. My immediate goal will be to work hard and make a good record in the next year or so,” Vijender said after signing with Queensberry Promotions and BoxNation.
Vijender’s mental flexibility has kept him relevant in all phases of his more-than-a-decade long career. He has adapted to all the changes comfortably and dealt with the hardest of situations with ease.
Promoter Francis Warren recognises Vijender’s commitment. “After spending the past week with him in Manchester, there is no doubt in my mind that he has what it takes to be a very successful professional boxer, not only due to his undoubted natural talent but also due to his drive and focus. He has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve.”
At 29, it was perhaps the best time for Vijender to make the switch as he had a fair idea of the toll his body would take while enduring the 12-round bouts.
The controversy surrounding his decision, arising out of his employer Haryana Police's objection to the boxer's switch, may be due to the lack of understanding about professional boxing in India. Top woman boxer M.C. Mary Kom coming in support of Vijender was a boost for him.
“When players in tennis, hockey, golf, kabaddi and football can play in professional leagues and can have two sources of income, why not boxers?”, wonders IOS chief Neerav Tomar.
“After Vijender, there is a lot of interest among boxers to turn pro.”
Here, the IBC, which plans to have competitions from city to national levels, can play a role in popularising professional boxing and changing the mindset towards it. “'We have started this not because we are disgruntled with amateur boxing. We want to put in place a system to provide the boxers an opportunity,”' says Raja, while revealing his plans to launch a women's pro league next year.
In fact, as the Secretary General of the erstwhile Indian Amateur Boxing Federation, Raja had planned to launch an Indian professional league after the Beijing Olympics. However, the International Boxing Association (AIBA), which had launched the World Series of Boxing (WSB) then, shot down the idea at that time.
Later, AIBA reserved a large chunk of Olympic quota places for boxers of its own professional leagues while denying such a privilege to pugilists from other pro leagues.
In the Indian context, only a few boxers have turned pro due to individual efforts and a handful have joined WSB with little success. Some feeble attempts to launch pro leagues and an Indian company’s brief hold on a WSB franchise sum up the story of professional boxing in India so far.
In this backdrop, it will be intriguing to see how the new forays shape the future of professional boxing in the country.