6 Hotly contested boxing bouts, 3 World Boxing Association officials, the IBC National Title Belt, Prize Money Purses, Ring Girls – “IBC 1” had all the ingredients in place to serve a pot boiler for the fans who turned up in hundreds despite the troubles across the state border in neighbouring Haryana.

Indian Boxing has been at cross roads for over 3.5 years with no real action happening in the ring in the amateur circuit. It definitely comes as a huge fillip for boxers who can now turn pro with the Indian Boxing Council, a body established in 2015 to govern and regulate the sport of Professional boxing in India.

All bouts were officiated by Indian technical officials of the IBC, who have undergone extensive training under the tutelage of International Boxing Hall of Fame Referee, Stanley Christodolou, International Supervisor – Mariana Borissova and WBA Medical Commission member – Dr. John Hartley Fleming. All 3 International Technical officials were identified and appointed by the WBA President, Gilberto J Mendoza as part of a development programme for India and the region.

All 6 fights were supervised by the WBA officials for correct application of technical rules and world pro boxing regulations.

The IBC series are the ultimate professional boxing competitions in India to identify the National Champions and contenders in each Weight Division of the IBC. The Indian Boxing Championships are conducted with a frequency and periodicity as determined by the Championship commission of the Indian Boxing Council.

To prepare for IBC 1, a group of about 25 boxers were shortlisted from among the applications received and were set up in a camp at the MIT MANET Campus in Pune, Maharashtra under the training periodization plan with Joe Clough – Technical Director of the IBC. The camp was also supported by former India coach GB Gurung who is IBC’s Lead Coach.

The unfortunate events at Haryana, had a bearing on the crowd which turned up for the event, over 600 fans from all across Haryana especially Bhiwani were left disappointed at not having been able to make it to New Delhi for the fight card. 

The fight night started on a fine note with the pretty ring girls circling the ring with the IBC National Title Belt, which were designed and produced by the Masis Belt corporation, USA.  The Belt in itself was a magnificent sight and the crowd rose up in unision to appreciate the same.

The first fight of the evening was in the featherweight division between a young local lad, all of 19 against an experienced amateur boxer from Goa. With the crowd of about 800 spectators rooting for the local lad Sachin, it was action from the word go.

Both boxers started strongly matching each other punch for punch in the first two rounds. However, Sachin was leading on the judges score cards by a narrow margin of 10: 9. By the third though, Sachin slowly took control of the fight, with clean insteps and countering when pushkar’s guard was down. The 19 year old who missed out in the Amateur circuit owing to administrative problems looks in prime touch and is hoping to go all the way for National Title opportunity in the next few months.

“It was a good victory for me and I am happy with my performance. I have a good rhythm going on and hope to carry on the confidence and the form in the coming fightcards, expressed an elated Bhot after his bout.

The  Super Lightweight class witnessed some aggressive and exceptional performances, from both Pardeep Kharera of Delhi as well as Munish Sharma from Haryana. Right from the word “Box” in the 1st round both boxers went at each other with gusto and aggression, resulting in a lot of holding and shoving which were duly called by the Referee in the Ring.It was amazing to see, how young pugilists who have had outstanding junior and youth experiences are making the switch to the professional circuit.

The main event for the night was in the Super Welterweight division between one of the most experienced Indian Boxers, Siddharth Varma Vs a young Junior National Gold medallist –Devdarshan Singh from Haryana. While Siddharth’s exposure to both the WSB as well as multiple National championships in the last decade was a huge advantage, Devdarshan surprisingly held sway and even took the 2nd round in one of the Judges scorecards. In the end, it was a unanimous decision in favour of Siddharth, who was not only ecstatic but also swooned to latest Deadpool music which got the crowd off their feet in an instant.

All 12 boxers were presented with President’s Purses’ varying from INR 30,000 to INR 1,00,000 to be shared in the ratio of 50:50. The trainers and the seconds of the boxers have to be paid 30% of the purses mandatorily by the boxers themselves.

The IBC had earlier in a press conference announced that the council would start accepting boxer applications right from the age of 18. This now comes as great news for a lot of young boxers who have not been getting any opportunity in competitive amateur boxing.

BOUT 1 : FEATHERWEIGHT DIVISION
Start Time: 6 PM

DECISION: UNANIMOUS
WINNER: BLUE CORNER – SACHIN BHOT

BOUT 2: CRUISERWEIGHT DIVISION
START TIME : 6:40 PM

Decision: UNANIMOUS –
WINNER:  RED CORNER – DHARMENDER GREWAL

BOUT 3: SUPER LIGHT WEIGHT DIVISION
START TIME : 7:15 PM

Decision: MAJORITY –
WINNER:  BLUE CORNER – MUNISH SHARMA

BOUT 4: SUPER MIDDLE WEIGHT DIVISION
START TIME: 7:45PM

Decision: SPLIT DECISION
WINNER:  BLUE CORNER – SANDEEP KUMAR

BOUT 5: HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION
START TIME: 8:15 PM

Decision: UNANIMOUS –
WINNER:  BLUE CORNER – SUMIT RANGI
BOUT 6: SUPER WELTER WEIGHT DIVISION
START TIME: 8:40 PM

Decision: UNANIMOUS –
WINNER:  BLUE CORNER – SIDDHARTH VERMA