The Punjab Panthers won the opening match of the Big Bout the Indian Boxing League where Mary Kom also won her debuting contest
The Indian Big Bout Boxing League began with its first official match which was won the Punjab Panthers following their 5-2 success over the Odisha Warriors. India’s and the globe’s best female boxer six-time AIBA Women’s World Champion Chungneijang Mary Kom Hmangte began her campaign with a superb success in the League.
Big Bout is the official name of the Indian Boxing League which is a new program of the Boxing Federation of India which will be closing the busy year of 2019. Boxing Federation of India covered all costs for the boxers including flight tickets, accommodation, meals and local transportation, furthermore strong money prizes for the boxers. The competition period of the League is from December 2 until December 21 which is open for top foreign boxers as well.
The men’s weight categories at the Big Bout League are the flyweight (52kg), the bantamweight (57kg), the welterweight (69kg), the middleweight (75kg) and the heavyweight (91kg). The women boxers also have been involved to the new League and the flyweight (51kg) and the lightweight (60kg) will be introduced during the event. The Big Bout will be held in Round Robin file format followed by knock out and altogether 18 matches are scheduled in the upcoming three weeks.
India’s six-time AIBA Women’s World Champion Chungneijang Mary Kom Hmangte represents the Punjab Panthers in the League and started with a clear success over Savita of Odisha Warriors as her opening in the Big Bout. The 36-year-old Indian flyweight (51kg) star dominated all of the rounds against her first opponent and won the bout by large margin of differences.
In the second female fight of the night former AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships silver medallist Sonia Lather Singh of Punjab Panthers was too energetic for veteran Priyanka Chaudhary at the lightweight (60kg). In the third woman fight Jasmine of Odisha Warriors impressed against Sapna Sharma at the youth featherweight (57kg).
In the smallest men’s category at the flyweight (52kg) ASBC Asian Boxing Championships silver medallist Deepak of Odisha Warriors met with another top Indian, Polipalli Lalitha Prasad and he was slightly better in the bout. Deepak was smaller than his opponent but his attacking tactic paid off in the bout of the first day.
Uzbekistan’s Youth Olympic Games winner and AIBA Youth World Champion Abdumalik Khalakov is one of the biggest talents in the whole world and he proved his talent once again. The 19-year-old Uzbek bantamweight (57kg) boxer used his fantastic rhythm to land punches against Mohamed Ibrahim beating his rival unanimously.
India’s former Commonwealth Games winner veteran welterweight (69kg) boxer Manoj Kumar is 14-year-older than Uzbekistan’s Youth Olympic Games bronze medallist 19-year-old Jakhongir Rakhmonov and those experiences paid off in their battle. The Punjab Panthers’ fifth success was achieved by Mohit who defeated Neel Kamal Singh at the middleweight (75kg) finalizing the 5-2 end score.
Don’t forget you can keep up with all of the action, news, results and photos by following ASBC on Facebook and Instagram.
ASBC website: www.asbcnews.org
ASBC Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ASBC.Boxing/
ASBC Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/asbc_official/