Delayed, Vijender Singh in no mood to be denied

Vijender Singh and Dean Gillen at the weigh-in. (Source: IOS Boxing Promotions/Queensberry Promotions)

As of two weeks back, Vijender Singh would have been expecting to spend this Saturday at home in India. He would have fought and hopefully won his second professional bout on October 30 and might have felt he had earned a welcome break from training by spending time with friends and family.

But there was a hitch in the Indian prizefighter’s plans when it was announced with just three days to go before the fight, that his bout with Dean Gillen had been postponed by a week from October 30 to November 7.

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“My wife had come over from India and we were supposed to fly back together last week. But the change in the fight dates meant we had to cancel our tickets. But it isn’t something that troubles me. I’m here to fight,” says Vijender over phone from Manchester.

Vijender will be fighting in Dublin, on the undercard of Jamie Cox’s WBO European super-middleweight title defence. The Indian is a long way from being a title contender right now with just a little under two months’ experience in the professional ranks.

He has only had one fight prior to the one against Gillen — a three-round knockout win over Sonny Whiting (2-1 before the contest). But while they admit his debut victory was impressive, many observers understand there are areas where the Indian has work to do.

“Vijender’s first fight was a chance for him to look good. Undoubtedly he did,” says British boxing pundit Steve Lillis.

“He showed that he had a lot of power in his hands and he used his jab well. What was even more impressive was that in the final seconds of the fight Vijender sensed that he was close to the win and was able to finish the fight quickly. Before Vijender’s bout I wondered how many fights it would take for him, considering his long amateur record, to figure that out. That’s something many boxer’s take time to learn, but Vijender to his credit learned quickly,” says Lillis.

But Lillis cautions that he saw vestiges of Vijender’s amateur game as well. “In some moments, he threw a good punch and then seemed to admire it a little rather than following it up. That allowed Whiting to breathe a little. He got away against an opponent like Whiting. But if you let a better boxer recover, will make you pay,” says Lillis.

The Indian’s bouncing footwork too was a sore point. “In the amateur setup, the strategy is to hit and keep moving.

But as a professional, he needs to stick his feet into the canvas and throw his shots. He needs to be more solid. If he does that he will be able to get even more power into his shots,” says Lillis.

These observations are not unknown to Vijender and his coach Lee Beard. “Yeah I know I have areas to work on, especially in the footwork. I came into the ring during a training session and I was sparring and suddenly Lee started shouting saying what was I doing. He told me to calm down and be a lot more flat footed. So I said OK and I tried doing that. But it will take some time,” recalls Vijender.

For the moment, coach Beard isn’t trying to teach too many new things too soon to Vijender. “After his second fight, Vijender will be going home for a bit, and it’s only after that that I’ll have a good amount of time to work with him,” says Beard.

As such, Vijender will only be looking to bring about incremental changes to his game against Gillen. “Ï’ll look to throw a lot more jabs to the body for one,” he says for an example.

His rival is probably a better boxer than Whiting, as a record of 2-0 would suggest. Yet, the difference in class between him and Vijender is apparent. But despite being in his own words (and as betting websites would agree) “an underdog” for the fight, Gillen isn’t simply looking to be a crash dummy for Vijender to try out something new.

Standing 6’1 he has two additional inches of reach (74 inches to 72 for Vijender ) and he intends to make the most of it. Both of Gillen’s wins leading up to Saturday’s fight have come via points decision, suggesting he is yet to show his stopping power, but the Nottingham boxer believes a disruptive jab will give him a fighting chance.

“Vijender never really gave Sonny too much of a chance by constantly hitting him with the jab. My foot movement isn’t as good as his but I have a better reach so I need to use my own jab and prevent Vijender from getting into any sort of rhythm. If he gets into any sort of rhythm, he will be hard to stop,” says Gillen.

Vijender himself isn’t particularly worried. “I am not looking for a knockout. I just want to go in and finish the fight as quickly as possible. And then I’ll look forward to going home,” he says.

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