I am improving rapidly: Vijender

Vijender demolished Dean Gillen in just over two minutes in a four-round contest to register his second successive triumph.

Updated - November 17, 2021 01:04 am IST

Published - November 08, 2015 03:16 pm IST - Dublin

A second straight knockout victory under his belt, star Indian boxer Vijender Singh on Sunday said he is improving rapidly in the professional arena even though he still has a long way to go before realising his dream of becoming a world champion in the circuit.

Vijender demolished Englishman Dean Gillen in just over two minutes in a four-round contest on Saturday night to register his second successive triumph in the pro circuit. The Indian will take a break for a week now to celebrate Diwali with his family in India.

“Wow! that was quick, man!” said the 30-year-old, who had defeated Sonny Whiting via a Technical Knockout last month in his debut bout.

Elaborating on his contest against Gillen on Saturday night, in which Vijender pummelled the part-time fire-fighter in under three minutes, the Indian said he somehow knew that it wouldn’t last long.

“I felt very comfortable in there and lined him up with my jabs first to get the range but then when I started connecting with the right I knew it was only a matter of time before I caught him properly,” he said.

“He went down, which the referee said was a slip, I wasn’t so sure about that, but anyway when he got back up I knew I’d hurt him so I went straight into him and didn’t stop punching until he went down,” he added.

The former Olympic bronze-medallist said he is improving by leaps and bound with every day of training.

“When I landed the last right hand and he dropped I had a feeling that he wasn’t going to get up and when the referee counted to ten it was a fantastic feeling to get my first KO on my record,” he said.

“I said that after the first fight I’d improve and I think that I showed some of the development and improvement tonight, but there’s a lot more to come from me,” he added.

Vijender will be reaching Delhi on Monday night to spend a week with his family before his next fight on December 19 in Manchester.

“I know this is a just step by step journey for me but have to cover long way to be champion. After having two fights I can just say that Indian young boxers can also do it, it’s just about doing hard work. I would like to thank all the fans for their support,” he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.