The eyeballs of many of Indian fans will be set at Vijender Singh on 10 October, as the pugilist from Bhiwani who worked hard to become one of the stars of boxing in India over the years, gets set to debut as a pro.
The Manchester Arena in the United Kingdom remains the venue of the big fight, as he goes jab-to-jab with Britain's Sonny Whiting in a four-round middleweight fight.
Vijender, who became a national hero after clinching bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has said that he isn't ready to get outpunched on the night, as he will look to make use of his experience and start off his pro boxing career with a bang.
Lee Beard, who has formerly trained pro stars like Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather Sr, is the trainer for the 29-year-old ahead of the big fight, and according to him, Vijender is a "rare natural talent".
"In my analysis, Vijender is technically a very very talented boxer. You rarely see a natural talent like him. That's something which is very impressive about him," Beard told PTI in an interview from Manchester.
"He is a very experienced guy at the amateur level. He knows his punches and he punches very hard. All in all, I rate him as a brilliant boxer and I have very high hopes from him," he said.
"Every player has his own strengths and weaknesses and it's not that I am trying to teach him anything. But I have tried to make sure that his jabbing is better. That was one area which needed to be worked on.
"Besides, I have also tried to make sure that his body attacks are more precise and effective. These are some of the areas that we have together worked on in the last one month or so," Beard said.
Beard hopes that Vijender's "brutal sparring session" along with other pro boxers like Jack Catterall, Adrian Gonzalez and Jimmy Kell, finally bears fruit on the fight night, and the Indian successfully gets to "create waves".
"He goes through brutal sparring sessions everyday to be ready. He has that hunger to be the best and for that he has pushed himself quite a lot, which is rare and admirable. I am very excited about Saturday when the baby would be finally out and hopefully, he will create waves," said the British trainer.
Vijender Singh vs Sonny Whiting: Fight Schedule
Date - 10 October, 2015.
Venue - Manchester Arena, UK.
TIme - 5PM BST (9:30 pm IST onwards).
