Waseem's fight against opponents, his own continues

Pugilist once again asks his countrymen why achievements go unnoticed

KARACHI: Boxing star Muhammad Waseem has so far won every fight and overcome every opponent in his blossoming boxing career, but there is one challenge that is proving far more difficult than he ever imagined: winning over his own people.

The Quetta-born pugilist is the reigning World Boxing Council silver flyweight champion and boasts a perfect 7-0 record, with an impressive 71% knockout ratio.

He is trained by superstar boxer Floyd Mayweather's uncle Jeff and could contend for world titles in future if he continues notching up victories — something he did twice in July with second and third-round stoppages of Panamanian duo Eliecer Valdez and Ivan Trejos respectively.

Mayweather recently spoke highly of Waseem, referring to him as a "trainer's dream" and tipping him to one day emerge as a genuine threat to flyweight standouts Roman Gonzalez and current champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.

But back home, Waseem aka Falcon continues to fly under the radar.

He is viewed as a boxing royalty in Pakistan's limited combat sports circles but remains largely anonymous beyond that.

Not afforded even a fraction of the renown and riches regularly rendered to cricketers, Waseem sounds more disappointed than peeved that his efforts are going unrecognized.

“Even a small nation like Panama has better sports awareness than Pakistan," Waseem told The Express Tribune from the Central American country. "It hurts to see that in my own country, the people and the business sector are blind to more global sports. They end up pumping so much money into cricket, which in a global perspective is a much small sport [than boxing]."

Boxing's toughness, in Waseem's opinion, means that boxers should be given even more respect but instead all they ever get are cold shoulders.

"Cricketers face very little challenges as compared to boxers, footballers or even hockey players because their global competition so much more intense," said the 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist. "Boxing is a tougher sport than cricket on every level as we can end up dying in the ring too. The bottom line is that cricket is not the only sport out there."

He then shed light on how authorities world over help out boxers in case of injuries and health concerns — a pipe dream for practitioners of Sweet Science in Pakistan.

"I've been in Panama for almost a month now, and I've also been to some neighbouring countries," shared Waseem. "I've come to know that in case a boxer here injures himself during a fight and goes in coma, the government is there to take care of him. It scares me even to think that what would happen if such an injury is suffered by a Pakistani boxer. What security do we have from the government? None whatsoever."

Waseem's lack of celebrity is a cause of concern for coach Mayweather too as he questions how Amir Khan, a British fighter of Pakistani descent, is cared for more in Pakistan than one of their own.

“Everyone knows that Amir is of Pakistani origin, but when Waseem came to Vegas for the first time nobody knew him," said the American trainer. "It was only when he started beating everyone up that he got noticed."

Waseem's work inside the ring and pleas outside it could keep falling on deaf ears. But as long as there is a fighting chance, he will not relent.