Pumped up Waseem set to make ring return next week

KARACHI: Pakistan’s premier professional boxer and former world No1 Mohammad Waseem moved to Dubai from Glasgow late Tuesday night ahead of his ranking fight in Dubai on September 13.

The fight will be the major part of the Rotunda Rumble event. Ahmed A Seddiqi’s Round 10 Boxing in association with MTK Global are promoting the event which will be held at the Caesars Palace, Dubai.

Waseem’s opponent for the fight is yet to be officially disclosed by MTK Global. But it is highly likely that he will compete against a fighter from Philippines in the flyweight category. Waseem, earlier, was scheduled to fight against a Thailand fighter but the latter suffered a fractured hand during sparring.

This will be after 13 long months that Waseem would return to the ring. Waseem had played his last fight in July 2018 when he lost to South Africa’s Moruti Mthalane in the International Boxing Federation (IBF) world title fight.

After signing with MTK Global, Waseem had kept training in Glasgow for the last six months. After the Dubai fight, Waseem is expected to come to Pakistan on a two-week leave. He was scheduled to return to the ring in June but could not do so due to medical issues.

“I am ready for the fight,” Waseem told ‘The News’ from Dubai on Wednesday. After serving Pakistan in amateur circuit for over a decade, Waseem turned pro months after lifting bronze in the flyweight competitions of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. And soon he created ripples in the professional boxing world by lifting World Boxing Council (WBC) world silver flyweight title after beating Jether Oliva of Philippines in Seoul on July 17, 2016.

He became a rare boxer of the world to secure world title only in his fourth pro bout. Quetta-born fighter, then working under AK Promotions, defended the title on November 27, 2016, when he got the better of Giemel Magramo of Philippines in a gripping fight. Waseem also became WBC world No1 in June 2017. “With the coming fight I will resurrect my career and will then move on to achieve my goals of becoming the world champion,” Waseem said.