Former boxer Sharif living in abject poverty

KARACHI: Former Pakistan boxing medalist M Sharif Commando has been battling paralysis and financial problems for a long time.

He represented Pakistan in world’s largest amateur boxing contests, Kings Cup and Presidents Cup.Sharif started his career in 1992 under the supervision of great Olympian and national coach Jan Baloch who belonged to famous RCD Boxing and Bodybuilding Club which is well known for generating quality boxers.

Jan was a well-known coach at that time and had represented Pakistan at Olympics. He produced several talented boxers who represented Pakistan. He went to Jakarta (Indonesia) in 1994 to compete in Presidents Cup immediately after resigning from Pakistan Steel Boxing team, having served there for almost six months.

He ended third and received bronze medal in heavyweight category (81kg).In Malaysia, he came up second getting silver in super heavyweight category (83-91kg) at Kings Cup the very next year (1995).

In the same year, he got bronze once again but this time in fourth KESC International Boxing Championship held in Karachi. Boxers from 22 countries took part in that championship. 

He is four times gold medallist of All Pakistan Boxing championship, from 1994-1997. In 2000 he won gold medal at the 7th National Games.Despite these milestones he is living in abject poverty as he has no secure job.

He served KESC’s (now K-Electric) sports department as coach for 17 years but hasn’t got any reward for his services. Talking to ‘The News’ he said:

“I served at KESC for almost 17 years as a coach. I helped them produce brilliant boxers but now that I am old they are not supporting me.”

He praised the services of Prof. Anwar Chaudhry who was the president of the International Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) and the Pakistan Boxing federation (PBF), and said that he was the man who lifted boxing. “But since his death no one has came up for the betterment of boxing in Pakistan,” the former boxer said.

He said he had paralysis attack near the end of 2015. He appealed to the government and the departments whom he served to look after him and provide him some kind of support. He added that he was confident that he could still transfer his expertise to young boxers if he got a chance to train them.