Olympian Diwakar Prasad, Commonwealth Games medallist Amandeep Sing are among the latest big names to follow Vijender Singh in turning pro by signing up with IOS Boxing promotions here on Tuesday. In total 13 boxers, including WBC Asia welterweight champion Neeraj Goyat and MMA champion fighter Pawan Mann, signed up with IOS Boxing promotions on Tuesday. Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar joined the same promoters last Saturday.
There were no surprises when they uniformally agreed that the 2008 Beijing Olympic medal won by Vijender was the turning point for the sport in India.
"It was after Vijender's success at Beijing Olympics that made boxing famous and we boxers more recognised in the country," said Diwakar.
Amandeep added, "Medals bring attention of the public to sports. If an Indian boxer had managed to win an Olympic medal earlier, boxing would have progressed at a faster speed much earlier."
Prasad, aged 32, belongs to the tribal community of Jharkhand and comes from a very humble background. "My father was a driver and my family was poor. However, one of my father's classmates was a boxing coach and when he saw that I wasn't interested in studies, he took me to him and got me to take up boxing," said Prasad who represented India in the 2004 Olympics.
Neeraj, 26, who had turned pro in 2012, was a pioneer of the sport in his home district Yamuna Nagar. "My city didn't have a boxing culture. I was the first boxer of consequence from my hometown. I am now building a boxing academy there," explained Goyat.
Meanwhile, Amandeep shared his experience, "Initially, it wasn't boxing but hockey that I was involved with when I was in 7th standard. But then a major boxing event took place in my hometown where famous players like Dingko Singh and Gurcharan Singh participated. After watching them in action I decided to become a boxer."