Waseem ‘ready’ for IBF world title

“I’ve worked very hard for this fight. I’m now requesting my people, my country to pray for me. I’m confident, but I need prayers for it,” Pakistan’s first boxer to ever win the World Boxing Federation (WBC) belt Muhammad Waseem is urging, as he came out of the official weights room in Dubai, where he’ll fight Sunny Edwards for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) world title in flyweight category.

The fight is the main event.

Waseem is also number one in the World Boxing Association ratings.

This is the moment that the Quetta-born pugilist has been waiting for, the chance at the world title. Earlier he attempted to win it in 2018, but had to see the first defeat of his professional career due to various issues among his team in the background.

The defeat from South Africa’s Moruti Mthalane had only strengthened his resolve to win the world title.

Just on November 26, Waseem had regained his WBC silver belt. He defeated Colombia’s Rober Barrera (24 wins, 13 KOs and four defeats) 115-113, 115-114 and 117-111 in a unanimous decision in Dubai, which was also the WBA world title eliminator bout.

So far Waseem holds the impressive record of 12 wins, eight knock-outs and only one loss that was from Mthalane, while fighting for the IBF world title.

This is Waseem’s toughest fight and the British boxer may be his toughest opponent being unbeaten in all of his 17 bouts at age 26.

However, Waseem, 34, is now a different man. He is a father now, who has not seen his son as yet as he had been training for the fight. He has been making sacrifices that are extraordinary to make sure that Pakistan finally gets a world champion in professional boxing.

“I’ve worked very hard. It is a tough fight. It is the IBF world title. I’m 100% confident that I’ll beat Edwards. I’ve worked hard and trained hard, more than 100 rounds of sparring,” Waseem told The Express Tribune exclusively.

“I’ve spent a very hard training time, made a lot of sacrifices, especially when it comes to my family. They are in Pakistan, my son, who was born two weeks ago, he is also back home in Pakistan. I haven’t seen him yet, because I was training but I’m hoping by the grace of Allah that all of these sacrifices and hard work will come to fruition. They will all be paid tomorrow night (March 19). I hope I win this fight and make Pakistan proud.”

Waseem added that he trained in Dubai only.

“Yes I trained here throughout, but we got sparring partners from Kazakhstan and some from the UK. I sparred with them for 80 to 100 rounds. I’m in great shape and I am ready for this fight,” said the Falcon, as he is nicknamed due to his agility and resilience.

Waseem signed with Probellum recently and is also signed with MTK.

But his journey has been full of twists and rather tough turns till this point.

Waseem had been chasing the dream since he was young and began training for boxing at a local club in Quetta. From there he proved his mettle domestically, only to be picked for the national camp and ultimately represent Pakistan internationally. He won bronze in 2014 at the Asian Games, silver medal in Commonwealth Games, gold in South Asian Games, and gold in the World Military Games before he chose to turn pro due to negligent and manipulative officials running the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF).

Meanwhile, Edwards has also been in Dubai for the promotion and he feels that Waseem will not be able to beat him. He feels that he can be one of the greatest boxers from his country, albeit he admitted that he can come across as being “flashy and a bit cocky” and his ego can sometimes get the best of him. However, Waseem’s camp should not underestimate his ability to go for the full 12-round bout.