26 MAR 2022, NEWDELHI : Satnam ‘Milkha”’ Singh was crowned the WBC India Featherweight champion last night, after beating Amey Nitin by a Majority decision over 10 rounds. 2 Judges scored the fight in favour of Satnam Singh, while the 3rd Judge scored it as a draw after 10 rounds.
With this event, United Professional Boxing culminated Season 1 of the “Fightclub” live boxing shows in Gurgaon last night. The 4th UPB event of the year saw all 6 fights on the night, go the distance and winners being declared on the basis of results by the Judges instead of KO’s and stoppages by the Referees.
For the fans, it was 38 rounds of intense action, with the main event, a 10 rounder between Satnam Singh against Amey Nitin, being the fight of the night.
WBC INDIA NATIONAL TITLE - BOXING WARRIORS IN THE RING
It was an epic battle between the 2 men, who stood toe-to-toe from the first bell and slugged it out for all 10 rounds. The Delhi lad Satnam, dominated the early rounds, but the Maharashtrian Amey Nitin, fought back to take a couple of the middle rounds.
It was a fight that could have gone either way, but the 25-year-old Satnam who improved to 10 Wins and 1 loss after this fight was impressive from the onset as he closed the distance and controlled the ring, using clearly superior boxing skills.
“I really had to earn it. The last three rounds were tough, I was ahead, but I had to stay and remain calm.” said Satnam at the end of the Fight.
Amey Nitin, was in deep water from the start as he tried to evade the guile and quick jabs of his opponent. The 26-year-old banker from Pune, now has 7 wins, 5 losses after this fight. He made an impressive comeback in the 6th round with strong punches and counter attacks, but it was a case of too little too late. Amey was disappointed by the result, but he knew that he hadn’t done enough to win the fight.
SAURABH DEFEATS ADIL RAJESH BY UNANIMOUS DECISION
In the co main event, Saurabh Kumar, made a massive statement by defeating Adil Rajesh by a Unanimous decision. Adil, is one of the sharpest Indian Professional boxers currently in the circuit and was expected to be the favourite for this fight. A mix of factors, including dew on the ring, which caused a lot of boxers to slip on the canvas, could have resulted in this outcome.
That however, doesn’t take away anything from Saurabh, who was too busy, too sharp and too determined for Adil Rajesh as he edged their 6-rounder to win on points on the scorecards of all 3 Judges.
With this win, 26 year old Saurabh, is sitting on an undefeated record of 6 wins and no losses. In the last 3 months, Saurabh, has defeated his 2 closest opponents in the WBC India Rankings ( Adil Rajesh and Gaurav) and has a clear headway in the Bantam-weight division.
UNDERCARD RESULTS
Rakesh Lohchab outworked Amarnath Yadav over six rounds to win an entertaining contest listed at Super Bantam. Lohchab improved his boxing record to 12-3-1 while Amarnath dropped to 1-3-1.
Middleweight Pawan Goyat displayed good form in his four-round points win over Army boxer Sandeep Nain to score his 5th win in the paid ranks. He used his jab well and was eager to get stuck in. He should be someone to keep an eye on.
Earlier in the day, Vishwas Lahori defeated Sumit Kumar and Varun Phartyal got the better of Pawan Kumar to win by Unanimous decisions.
“FIGHTCLUB” – A BOXING STORY FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS
In the first 3 months of this calendar year alone, India has hosted 10 Pro Boxing events across Delhi, Haryana, Himachal, Karnataka, Rajasthan and West Bengal.
With upto 2 live events a month from the UPB stables, Indian professional boxers are getting much needed action and exposure.
“Season 2 of the Fightclub will kick off in April, with bigger and larger cards. We have more Title matchups that we are discussing with WBC India and the Indian Boxing Council. This is a digital sport and can easily penetrate the markets to compete for the 2nd sport category in India alongwith Football, Badminton and Kabbadi.
For the last 4 shows that we had, we have got over 4.5 million views and 250 million-plus impressions. The numbers are huge, and we believe they are going to get only bigger in the coming days,” said Anirban Roy, Co-Founder of United Professional Boxing.
Fans had little to complain about in terms of the non-stop action, testament to the matchmaking skills of Chandan Singh, a well-known boxing coach in the professional circuit. A well matched contest between 2 fighters is always appreciated.
Brigadier Raja, Supervisor for the WBC India Title as well as President, Indian Boxing Council, was happy for Satnam and his entire family who was present to witness him being crowned a National Champion. “ The battle for the WBC India Title was clean and without dramatics. These stories will be etched in history. Both boxers came here to win and make history. The” Fightclub” by UPB has already proven to be a great platform for the sport. With these nights, Pro Boxing, has just tested waters in India.
