Amateur boxing experience helped me win Lopez fight: Mohammad Waseem

KARACHI: Pakistan's prolific professional boxer Mohammad Waseem on Saturday said that his amateur boxing experience helped him prevail over highly experienced Ganigan Lopez of Mexico in the ranking fight in Dubai on Friday night.

“The long amateur boxing experience helped me a lot to beat Lopez,” Waseem told 'The News' in an interview from Dubai on Saturday.

Waseem recorded his tenth win from 11 pro career bouts he has played so far when he outsmarted the 38-year-old former three-time world champion Lopez through a unanimous decision in an eight-round tough fight in Dubai.

His fight was also witnessed by a bunch of world champions, including Amir Khan.

This was Waseem's second win in two months. The Quetta-born fighter also remained World No1 after having lifted the WBC flyweight world silver crowns twice in 2016 when he on both occasions defeated the Philippines' boxers Jether Oliva and Giemel Magramo in Korea for the world silver crowns.

“It was indeed a tough fight,” Waseem said. “Lopez had experience and was very tricky. Because of experience he was going down, making fouls and using head adroitly. The experience of amateur boxing helped me a lot as I tackled all his tricks with ease. He wanted to try his tricks but could not do so successfully against me,” Waseem said.

Before switching over to professional boxing in 2015, Waseem served Pakistan in amateur boxing for a decade. During his illustrious amateur career, he won numerous medals for the country, including a bronze in 2014 Incheon Asian Games and a silver and a bronze in the Commonwealth Games.

Having started his pro career in 2003, this was 11th loss for Lopez. Of the 47 bouts he has played so far, he has won 36 with 19 knock-outs.

Waseem, on the other hand, has only lost a single fight in his career when he was undone by South Africa's Moruti Mthalane in Kuala Lumpur in the world title bout last year.

Waseem said that the presence of the world's leading boxers and former world champions boosted his morale.

“The organisation was fantastic. The world's leading boxers including Amir Khan had come to witness my fight. It was good support and the event's best fight was mine,” Waseem said.

It is not yet known when Waseem will opt to challenge for the world title bout but he certainly is on his way towards the global crown, his main dream.

Waseem plans to spend a few days with his family in Quetta before resuming his training.

“I am coming to Pakistan. I want to spend a few days with my family and will then resume my training,” he said.

But this time Waseem has chosen another destination for training other than Glasgow.

“I will proceed to Madrid for training after spending time in Quetta,” he said.

Waseem is a rare fighter of the world who has achieved his WBC flyweight world silver crown in only his fourth pro fight in 2016.

He would have earned world crown already had he not faced financial crunch a few years back when his former promoter Andy Kim failed to manage fights for him that wasted most of his crucial time.

But he is now expected to grab the coveted world title as a win against Lopez will further boost his world ranking enabling him to fulfill his dream of becoming the world champion.