Waseem’s world title eliminator likely to be held in Pakistan

KARACHI: Pakistan’s professional boxer Mohammad Waseem is likely to play his world title eliminator in Pakistan.

“It has almost been decided. If lockdown is not imposed then on December 19 world title eliminator may be held in Pakistan,” Waseem told ‘The News’ from Glasgow on Wednesday.

British boxer Amir Khan will manage the fight. ‘The News’ has learnt that Amir told MTK Global during his visit to Glasgow on Tuesday that he would manage the fight in Pakistan. Amir also trained Waseem for quite some time on Tuesday.

“Yes, it was a good meeting with Amir and he trained me for some time. He called me and then came,” Waseem said.

Currently the IBF fourth-ranked fighter, with the top two seats laying vacant, Waseem may face any tough boxer in top ten from both WBC and IBF in the world title eliminator. The winner will then fight for the flyweight world crown.

“Yes, it will be a tough fight but if managed in Pakistan it would be nice to play in front of my own crowd which will be a dream come true,” said the former Asian Games bronze medallist.

Waseem returned to Glasgow after a lengthy break due to lockdown and visa issues. He has not played a fight since November last year.

“Besides my fight, I would field some talented boys from Quetta and Amir would also field his own fighters,” said Waseem, who has played 11 bouts, winning ten with seven knock-outs, and losing one when he was undone by Moruti Mthalane of South Africa in July 2018 in Kuala Lumpur in the world title fight.