Indian boxing sensation Vijender Singh on Thursday hit the weight at the weigh-in ahead of Friday’s show-down with Andrzej Soldra of Poland at the Macron Stadium here.
The red-hot super middleweight ace who took bronze at the 2008 Olympic games, has made an explosive start to his professional career by blowing away his past five opponents. The Haryana lad has won all his five bouts by technical knockouts in only 14 rounds of action.
The 30-year old from Bhiwani is due for a national homecoming event where he will fight for the World Boxing Association(WBO) Asia title in New Delhi and asserted that there is no way that Soldra will prevent that from happening.
“This fight will be my first eight rounder so I am currently working on endurance and building up my strength so that if the fight goes on I have the capability to compete against my opponent. My training is becoming tough day by day and immediate focus is to win this fight and make it 6-0 of my pro career before playing in the homecoming title fight,” Vijender said in a statement.
“Due to the increase in the number of rounds, my coaches have worked very hard on my fitness and stamina,” he added.
Soldra comes into the fight against Vijender with a record of 12 wins with 5 knockouts from 16 fights.
The 30-yeard old has the edge in experience over Vijender with 81 rounds under his belt and has no fear fighting his first fight abroad. Soldra also has a brilliant record in amateur boxing with 82 wins from 98 fights.
Soldra has been stopped only thrice in a professional career spanning over five years and will be looking to spoil Vijender’s party when he makes his first appearance on British soil. Vijender knows that it is crucial that he wins at the Macron Stadium before setting his eyes on a huge Indian homecoming.
The Indian claimed his fifth professional win at the Copper Box Arena in London last month with a blistering fifth round stoppage of Frenchman Matiouze Royer. The Indian knock-out merchant ended the contest in the fifth round with a punishing stoppage win over Royer and will be looking at another win at the Macron Stadium.
“I know this fight is very crucial for me and I need to continue my unbeaten record and it’s important that I put on a commanding performance against Soldra to keep on course for my title shot and homecoming. I am really excited to finish off my sixth career fight on a winning note and then complete for title in front of my home crow,” he said.
