Visa delay costs Waseem five-fight deal

Boxer urges government to issue diplomatic passport after losing Mexican promotion opportunity

KARACHI:

Pakistan’s professional boxer Mohammad Waseem, the WBA bantamweight gold champion, on Sunday said a delay in obtaining a Schengen visa cost him a potential five-fight deal with a Mexican promotion company.

Waseem submitted his passport for a Schengen visa at the Spanish Embassy in Islamabad on July 29 but is still waiting for its issuance.

“Yes, I was going to sign a deal with a Mexican company, but due to the visa delay, I could not finalise the agreement. Under the proposed deal, I could have had five fights, and it is a huge loss for me,” Waseem told The Express Tribune on Sunday.

The former three-time WBC world flyweight silver champion said he did not know why his visa application had been delayed.

“I don’t know what the reason is,” he said.

Waseem said visa problems had repeatedly deprived him of important opportunities during his professional career.

“In the past, too, visa issues denied me several golden opportunities. I missed a WBO title fight in Dubai in 2022 because of a visa issue, and then I had to rush to Malta on the eve of my fight in 2024 because of a visa delay. Moreover, I was unable to obtain visas for international training on several occasions,” he said.

“This problem has dented my career,” Waseem added.

He appealed to the federal government to issue him a diplomatic passport, saying it could help him avoid similar difficulties when travelling abroad for fights and training.

“I need a diplomatic passport. I have requested the federal government several times in the past, but there has been no response. Had I received visas on time, I could have won several world titles by now,” he said.

Waseem has recently won back-to-back WBA bantamweight gold titles in Quetta and Lahore.

Since turning professional in 2015, he has fought 17 bouts, winning 15 and losing two.

Waseem has also played for Pakistan as an amateur fighter for over a decade, having also won Commonwealth Games silver and Asian Games bronze.

Meanwhile Waseem also requested the federal government to financially back him so that he could hold a world title fight in Pakistan.

“I aim to hold a world title fight here and I request the federal government for support,” Waseem said.

Waseem is a rare fighter who won the WBC World silver flyweight title in only his fourth professional bout. He successfully defended the title three months later before winning it again. He also remained the WBC's number-one-ranked boxer in his division for an extended period.

Waseem has lost only two fights in his professional career, both of them world title bouts against South Africa's Moruti Mthalane and England's Sunny Edwards, despite the Pakistani boxer putting up strong performances in both contests.