Waseem owes it to amateur boxing experience

KARACHI: Pakistan’s prolific professional boxer M 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 bouts he has played so far in his pro career when he outsmarted through a unanimous decision the 38-year old and former three-time world champion Ganigan Lopez in an eight-round tough fight in Dubai. His fight was also witnessed by a bunch of world champions, also including Amir Khan. This was second win from the 32-year old Quetta-born fighter in two months who 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’s silver crowns.

“It was indeed a tough fight,” Waseem said. “Lopez had experience and 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 was wanting to make tricks every moment but he 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, also 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 lost only 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 in summer.

Waseem is fighting under MTK Global, one of the major boxers management companies of the world. Waseem is undergoing training at the company’s Glasgow gymnasium.

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 also including Amir Khan had come to witness my fight. It was a good support and the event’s best fight was mine,” Waseem said.

It is not yet known when Waseem will opt for 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.

“Yes, I am coming to Pakistan. I want to spend a few days with my family and will then resume my training,” Waseem 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,” Waseem 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 now he is in good hands and is expected to grab the coveted world title as a win against Lopez will further boost his world ranking which will enable him to fulfil his dreams of becoming the world champion.