Post Vijender Singh’s successful title defense against Chinese no.1 Zulpikar Maimaitiali in a double title bout in NSCI Dome, Worli – we’ve compiled 6 things you ought to know about him.

1. Vijender, an Olympic bronze medalist and a winner of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, and Padma Shri fought professionally for the first time in Mumbai (on the 5th of August). Previously, he had fought half a dozen times in the United Kingdom, and twice in Delhi.

2. Vijender first got a boxing glove from his grandfather Dariyaj Singh, who worked with the Indian Army. His grandfather had boxed a little during his time in the Army. Vijender’s elder brother Manoj Singh was the first one in the family to take up boxing. He joined the SAI training center in Bhiwani. Vijender initially wanted to take up Cricket or Hockey, but due to his families economic situation, he couldn’t at the time. He took a liking to gymnastics only to realize a week later that he wasn’t cut out for it. On one particular day, when Vijender came out of a not so successful gymnastics session, he saw a group of boys shadow boxing. Out of curiosity young Vijender joined them. The coach happened to notice this and encouraged him to come in the following day. Thus began Vijender’s tryst with Boxing.

3. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Singh’s first round opponent was Gambian boxer Badou Jack. Badou, a dual citizen of Gambia and Sweden had won the Swedish National Championship 5 years in a row from 2004. He turned pro in 2009, and by 2012 had a record of 11 wins from 11 fights. He went on to be signed by Floyd Mayweather and was the WBC super-middleweight champion from 2015-2017. Although not clear to everyone else, a win against such a formidable opponent in the first round showed how good his form was right from the onset.

4. Vijender in 2009 was the top-ranked boxer in the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) annual middle-weight category list.

5. Singh prepared for his stint as a professional boxer in the Northside Gym, Manchester. He was coached by Lee Beard, a former martial artist and amateur boxer. Making the jump from amateur to professional boxing is no mean feat. An amateur boxer is taught to land punches on the scoring zone (the head), regardless of how feeble the contact may be. A pro boxer is taught not to be concerned about scoring or accumulating points. Your aim is to bring your opponent down. Also, amateur boxing is fought over 3 rounds lasting 3 minutes each. Pro boxing on the other hand is fought over 8-12 rounds. You’ve got to be able to last till the end. The point of writing all of this is to reaffirm how tough it is to make the jump from amateur to pro, all the more at the age of 30 (in Singh’s case). It goes to show that Vijender does not concern himself with conventional wisdom and is here to stay.

6. Since turning pro, Singh now has a professional record of 9 wins out of 9 bouts, and has knocked out his opponent 7 times. He is the current WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight Champion and WBO Oriental Super Middleweight Champion.