Vijender Singh, who continued his astounding form into professional boxing by winning his second bout against Dean Gillen at Dublin, said self confidence played a crucial role in beating his opponent with ease. He tells Karthik Raman how much his first fight against another Englishman Sonny Whiting helped him on Saturday night.
·In the last fight, you had to go till the third round to secure a victory against Whiting, but on Saturday, you knocked out your opponent (Gillen) in the first round itself. What do you think is the reason behind itIJ
Confidence is the key. Before my first fight against Whiting, I did not fight for a while. But since I already had one fight prior to Saturday’s fight, I came into the bout with more confidence, which helped me massively.
·On Saturday, did you specifically work on any weakness of GillenIJ
No, I mainly concentrated on my strengths and worked a bit on my footwork and it helped me a lot.
·From here on where does your journey goIJ
My next fight will be in December and it will be a six round fight.
·Since you are going to move from four rounds to six rounds, do you have any specific strategies for itIJ
Well I need to save more time and look to spend extra time on the court, since these fights may be a bit longer compared to the four round fights.
·Is your opponent for the next clash finalisedIJ
No, not yet.
·Your long term targetsIJ
Right now I am only focused on the December fight. From then on I will take it step by step.
·How important it is to have sponsors to survive for a long run in the fieldIJ
It is always vital to have sponsors in any sport. But, you do not have to worry about it too much. If you keep working hard and do well, automatically sponsors will follow you.
· What type of boxer are you offensive or defensiveIJ
I am a defensive in my approach.
·For Diwali, will you be coming to IndiaIJ
Yes, I will. After two and a half months, I am returning to India and I am so excited to meet my family.
·How confident are you about Indian boxers making it big in the fieldIJ
They certainly can make it big. The level of boxing is good in the country. The priority, however, now should be about next year’s Rio Olympics.
·Any message for Indian boxersIJ
Keep working hard and it will help you reach your goal.