Knock out: Baloch defends national title

Beats Irfanullah in eighth round of super-bantam-weight category under PBC

KARACHI: Nadir Baloch on Saturday successfully defended his national Pakistan Boxing Council (PBC) title against Irfanullah.

Baloch knocked Irfan out in the eighth round of the bout in a 10-round fight at the underground ring at Kakri ground; however, despite the win in his super-bantam-weight class, he feels that Pakistani boxes have a long way to go.

"I'm competing with the PBC [and not the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF)] because this is all the action we are getting," Baloch told The Express Tribune. "We held it in Lyari, this was my own club, the organisation of the PBC bouts are improving but we still need a lot more money in the sport, before evening thinking of ourselves as professional boxers. The PBC is more of an effort and I'm happy to be competing in these bouts, but the ultimate dream is to go abroad."

Baloch, 27, has been a partner of Muhammad Waseem in the national camp previously. While Waseem went on to become the first Pakistani to clinch a World Boxing Council silver flyweight title, Baloch is still struggling.

"I see Waseem and I get inspired because that is what every Pakistani boxer dreams of,” said Baloch. “In this fight with a local boxer I registered a knock out, now my wish is to fight in an international bout. I have been on top of my category, so I'm looking for more opportunities.”

Meanwhile he said that he already has a Universal Boxing Organisation title that he will be defending hopefully next month in Quetta. "The PCB is affiliated with UBO. I'm told next month we can have a bout in Quetta against an international boxer, but nothing is confirmed so far.”

He added that PBF needs to do more to develop better boxers in Pakistan. "I can assure you that more people are coming towards boxing, but the PBF isn't doing more than just sending teams to AIBA events abroad. The rest are still waiting to get opportunities. We need better set up to produce professional boxers, and so far I can only do this with PBC.”