Nadir’s bout with Waqas postponed

Problems in construction of boxing ring in Gwadar cause of delay

KARACHI: Bantamweight national champion Nadir Baloch will have to wait an extra week before he can take on provincial level boxer Muhammad Waqas Khan in their National Challenge Belt bout, the Pakistan Boxing Council (PBC) announced yesterday.

The bout, organised by the Pakistan Boxing Council (PBC), an alternative body to Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF), was initially scheduled to take place in Gwadar on November 5 in what will be the city’s first boxing event, but constructing a ring, for which the supplies had to be brought in from Quetta, proved more difficult than previously thought, thereby leading to the delay.

Nadir, who is fighting for the first time in a PBC-organised event, however, is unperturbed by the delay and is excited to fight.

“It is the first time I’m going for a PBC fight and I’m excited,” Nadir, who has competed at the Asian Boxing Championship and South Asian Games previously, told The Express Tribune. “It is all we’ve got at the moment and I really don’t have a choice; the PBF is not holding any events and this seemed promising, so I signed up for the bout.”

Nadir, meanwhile, feels that getting an extra week for preparation is not a bad sign. “I’ve been told that it has been postponed, so I’ll make the best of this week and train. Waqas is taller than me and can be aggressive, so I’ll be preparing hard now.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2016.

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