India boxer Vijender Singh feels his British friend Amir Khan, who is on a brief visit to the city, is using his name to promote Super Boxing League
India's Vijender Singh celebrates after beating Frenchman Matiouze Royer in the International Middleweight Contest at the Copper Box Arena in London last April. Pic/Getty Images
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India' star boxer Vijender Siingh is undergoing mixed feelings right now. One on hand, he is pleased to once again be exclusively managed by friend and IOS Boxing Promotions boss Neerav Tomar after terminating his co-management agreement with UK-based Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions citing their failure to honour contractual obligations (see box). On the other, he's displeased that another friend, Amir Khan, is using his name for commercial gains.
British boxing champ Amir, who has his roots in Pakistan, is in Mumbai to promote the franchise-based Super Boxing League. During a recent interview with mid-day, the Athens Olympics silver medal-winner said that he felt disrespected when Vijender said that he would be happy to fight him after winning the WBO Super Middleweight Asia Pacific title in New Delhi last year.
Amir Khan
"Vijender is inexperienced. I have fought the world's top fighters. For him to say he wants to fight me first-up, I thought was disrespectful. I thought this guy has just come onto the scene, so what's he saying? If we did fight, it will be a hard one, but I'm confident I will win," Amir (30), who has 35 professional fights with 31 wins under his belt, had told mid-day on Tuesday.
Vijender, just like his calm demeanour in the ring, had a simple yet stinging reply for his friend from England. "Look, I don't want to get into who said what about me. But the fact is, I've been told that Amir is using my name to promote his Super Boxing League (SBL). I have nothing to do with SBL, so I wouldn't want my name to be used there," said Vijender (31) yesterday.
And as for the potential Indo-Pak battle, Vijender had a straightforward reply: "Over the years, he has been fighting across different weight categories (between 63 kg to 73 kg), while I've been pretty consistent in the super middleweight (75 kg) division. If we are to fight, there will have to be some serious weight adjustments. There is no such fight slated between him and me as of now, but I'm not the one to shy away from any contest," said Vijender, who is happy to be home.
"I had no problems in the UK. My wife (Archana) and son (Abir, 4) were with me there, lekin apna desh toh apna hota hai (but your own country is your own) so, I'll have that extra motivation to train harder now that I'm back home," he said.
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