By winning the WBC silver flyweight crown, Mohammad Waseem has underlined the fact that had he been provided with quality training he would have won an Olympic gold medal in his amateur career
Pakistan’s prolific pro boxer Mohammad Waseem silenced his critics when he became the new World Boxing Council (WBC) silver flyweight champion. The Quetta-born pugilist defeated the experienced world title contender Jether Oliva of the Philippines in Seoul on July 17.
He is the first Pakistani boxer to achieve the milestone and that too in only the fourth bout of his pro career which began early last year.
It is a huge achievement for the 28-year-old Asian Games bronze medallist. He is now just one step away from the world title. Waseem was congratulated by top political personalities of Pakistan, including President Mamnoon Hussain.
British boxer and former two-time world champion Amir Khan also congratulated Waseem. "Congratulations to Waseem. Pakistan has now two champions," Amir wrote on his Facebook page.
It proved to be the last fight for the 30-year-old Oliva as the defeat forced him to retire from boxing.
Oliva ended his career with a record 24-6-2 with 11 knockouts. He fought for the world title twice but lost on both occasions.
"My duty is done. This is where life begins," Oliva said after he decided to retire.
A few years ago some people in the boxing community tried to misguide the boy. Some advised him to leave the game and start making his future in England by doing some work there. Some within the Pakistan’s boxing fraternity termed him a spent force. In his amateur career, he was forced by Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) to play in the light flyweight in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi so that it could accommodate the Britain-born Haroon Khan in the flyweight category. Both Waseem and Haroon, the younger brother of the British boxer Amir Khan, got bronze medals in that event.
However, Waseem took a solid stand after that and told the authorities that he would play in the flyweight in the 2012 London Olympics qualifiers in Astana. When Waseem lost in the flyweight quarter-finals of the qualifiers, a senior official of the PBF told me that the boxer did not have the sting and it was time to invest in youngsters.
The prejudiced attitude of the PBF towards Waseem deprived him of the opportunity to feature in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) a few years ago.
Waseem had been shortlisted for the purpose but the then set-up of the PBF did not send a letter of recommendation to the relevant body. Waseem was dejected, but having the nerves of steel, he smartly tackled all the conspiracies, kept working hard and went on to win silver medal in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and bronze in the Incheon Asian Games. His target was then the Rio Olympics 2016 but the PBF did not care. After spending a few idle months, he decided to turn pro as he knew that it would be useless to wait for the PBF to send him abroad for training for the Olympic qualifiers.
He brokered a contract with Andy Kim, the head of the Korea-based AK Promotions, who knew that he had found a real boxer.
Having a gym in Japan and strong links with the boxing world, Kim provided the best possible training to the Pakistani boxer whose decade-long amateur career fetched several medals for the country.
Waseem lived up to the expectations of his promoter as he won the Korean Boxing Commission (KBC) title.
In his fourth fight, he had to face Jether Oliva in the WBC world silver title clash which was upgraded from the WBC Asia Continental Flyweight title fight. Waseem not only won the coveted title but also earned a world ranking in the top four. Waseem wanted to play for the world title with the flyweight reigning champion Roman Gonzalez of Nicaragua, who has fought 44 bouts and never lost. But Waseem says that Gonzalez has changed his weight and it is unfortunate.
He has also challenged a Chinese boxer.
What Waseem has achieved shows that if he had been provided with quality training, he would have won an Olympic gold medal in his amateur career.
Had he played for Pakistan in the era of former AIBA and PBF chief Professor Anwar Chowdhry he would have earned several laurels for the country.
His WBC world silver title victory will surely boost boxing in the cricket-mad country. Waseem has set an example for Pakistani boxers by his dedication and hard work.
Following the golden performance in South Korea, Waseem had a chat with ‘The News on Sunday’. Here are a few excerpts from the talk.
"Oliva was no doubt a tough opponent. I could knock him out at any stage of the battle but I wanted to get the experience of playing for full 12 rounds. I knew that I had to play to the end to prepare for the future world title bouts where the rivals will be much tougher. My coach Jeff Mayweather also told me to continue and go round by round," Waseem said.
"No boxer in pro career does what I am doing. While others go up the stairs through a systematic way, I opted to play differently as I directly started playing long fights. It was a risk but now I am happy as I succeeded," the boxer added.
"I dedicate my grand victory to my parents who made sacrifices for me during my whole career," he said.
"Jeff is a great coach. He told me that in his life he saw two tough boxers. One is Floyd Mayweather Junior and the other is Waseem (me). Such remarks from a big boxing personality gave me a lot of encouragement," Waseem said.
A couple of months ago Jeff had said that when Waseem started sparring the whole gym paused and asked who he was.
But Waseem needs financial support. Neither media nor sponsors backed him before the title. He deserves attention from government, media and corporate sector.
"My next few months are very important. I need the government’s help and also of the corporate sector. I request not only the prime minister for support but also request Malik Riaz, chief of Bahria Town, for support," Waseem said.
It was very disappointing that only one television channel sent its reporter and cameraman to the Islamabad Airport when Waseem returned on Wednesday. His brother Mohammad Faheem had invited all media.
In Pakistan talent is not respected. Our sports authorities should know that Pakistan has world class players. They should pay attention to finding such guys and polishing them.