12 October,2015 08:48 AM IST | | Ashwin Ferro
On a high after winning his professional debut bout, Indian pugilist is already looking forward to his next challenge on October 30
Vijender Singh (right) lands a punch on Sonny Whiting at the Manchester Arena on Saturday
Slow and steady may not win you every race in life, but boxer Vijender Singh is in no hurry to succeed on the professional circuit. The Indian pugilist made a smashing professional debut at the Manchester Arena on Sunday, beating the living daylights out of Briton Sonny Whiting to emerge victorious by technical knockout with the referee stopping the fight in the third session of the four-rounder.
Also Read: Vijender Singh knocks out Sonny Whiting in his pro boxing debut
Vijender Singh (right) lands a punch on Sonny Whiting at the Manchester Arena on Saturday
Vijender's strategy for victory was plain and simple - to go slow and steady - and now his plan for the future too is the same.
'No big promises'
"I won't make any big promises. I'd rather let my gloves do the talking. My next fight is on October 30 in Harrow, and I'm already looking forward to that," the 29-year-old Haryanvi fighter told mid-day from Manchester yesterday.
Speaking about the fight, Vijender said that his trainer Lee Beard had instructed him not to rush in, and that's exactly what he did. "Lee told me that there's no point in getting excited and going all out right from the start. He asked me to first work the opponent and then go for big punches, so that's what I did, and it paid off," explained the former World No 1 middleweight boxer.
But there was no celebration with wife Archana and two-year-old son Abeer after the fight. "I didn't celebrate the win. I just returned home, had a bath and watched an old Hindi film (Sanjeev Kumar's 1979 hit Nauker). Bollywood classics are the perfect relaxant for me," added the 2008 Bejing Olympics bronze-medal winner admitting that the whole pro boxing atmosphere was different.
"I won't say that my fight was a sell-out yesterday because it was not the title fight. There were quite a few empty seats across the 20,000 capacity arena, but by the time the title fight came about, it was houseful.
"But having said that, I did get a bit mobbed later with a number of Asian and even British fans coming up and asking for my autographs and posing for selfies, so that's a great sign. It's my aim to have a sellout, houseful pro fight one day⦠and win it," he signed off.
