Indian star Vijender Singh goes into a six-round boxing fight as a pro for the first time in his career on Saturday, 19 December. The middleweight boxer faces Samet Hyuseinov of Bulgaria in his third and the final bout of the calendar year 2015.
Hyuseinov is the most experienced opponent so far for Vijender in his pro boxing career. The 29-year-old has seven victories from 14 matches in his career, a stark contrast to Vijender's record of just two wins from two fights.
The Haryana Police Deputy Superintendent, however, sees the 7-7-0 record of the Bulgarian as no major worry. "He has seven wins out of 14 fights so I don't think he is someone I should be worried about," Vijender said ahead of the fight.
The Indian has never fought for more than four rounds in his career. While his career as an amateur boxer saw him fight a maximum of three rounds, his previous two pro boxing bouts were of four rounds. However, none of the previous two went the distance.
While Vijender's first bout with Sonny Whiting ended in the middle of the third round (TKO win), his latest fight with Dean Gillen ended in just the first round (KO win).
"When you fight for three and four rounds, you can attack all the time. But the moment the fight lasts longer, you have to pace yourself," the pugilist from Bhiwani explained. "Your strategy changes with each round. If you attack for some time, you also have to slow down so you don't exhaust yourself. I will have to think a lot more now.
"I don't want the fight to last six rounds. Ideally, I want to get it over with quickly, but if it does go to six rounds I will not have any trouble with my stamina," he added.
Meanwhile, Hyuseinov has pledged he will leave "play-actor boxer" Vijender "beaten and broken" after their fight at the Manchester Arena today.
The fight is an undercard on the fight card headlined by a WBO World Middleweight Championship bout between Andy Lee and Billy Joe Saunders.
Live streaming options & TV guides for the pro boxing bout (Where to watch live)
The fights start at 5 pm BST (10:30 pm IST).
Indian audience can catch the mouthwatering action between Vijender and Hyuseinov on Star Sports 4 and Star Sports 4 HD. Online streaming of the pro boxing bout is available on starsports.com and Hotstar.
BoxNation (Sky 437/HD 490, Virgin 546 and Talk Talk 415) will make the pro boxing bouts available in the UK and Ireland. Online streaming is made available on LiveSport. Also, the fights can be watched on the official android and iOS app of BoxNation.
