Pugilists from across the country show their mettle at Pune Trials

The ‘SBL Road to the Ring’ contender’s round of the second edition of the Super Boxing League (SBL) concluded its Pune trials in the city’s Psycho Boxing & MMA Club.  The competition was conducted across four weight categories for men and one for women post weigh ins at the start of the trials.  Rahul Tiwari came out as the winner in the featherweight category, Shubham Bonakudkewar from Pune clinched the title in the welterweight category. The middle and super middle weight categories were taken by local boxers Sohail Rangila and Siddhant Bagwe respectively. The women’s light weight category was clinched by Shruti Shinde from Pune.

The weight categories are as follows 57Kg (Featherweight), 66.7Kg (Welterweight), 72.57Kg (Middleweight) and 76.2 Kg (Super Middleweight) for men and 61Kg (Women’s Light Weight). The trials saw each bout with two rounds of three minutes each in which boxers were judged on the basis of their aggressiveness, ring control, fitness, technique, footwork and boxer’s chin (ability to take a hit).

The Pune ‘SBL Road to the Ring’ saw participation from a number of boxers from the city and also other parts of the country in a bid to secure a place in the final round of the ‘SBL Road to the Ring,’ which will be contested between the best boxers from across the country in the national capital. The boxers who participated showed a lot of promise and revealed some aggressive moves to impress the judges. A few boxers had also come down from states like UP for a chance to become a pro-boxer.

Speaking at the Pune contenders round, WBC Asia Champion (Welterweight) Neeraj Goyat said, “We are holding the trials at various venues and it is exposing more amateur boxers to high level competition and would certainly help boost their confidence to face tougher competition in the future."

The winners of the final round will receive training under International and National coaches and under the watchful eyes of SBL, to become full-fledged professional boxers. It can even grant them a chance to compete in the Super Boxing League Season II to be held at Ludhiana, Punjab during September-November later this year.

The ‘SBL Road to the Ring’ contest will now move to Hyderabad from Pune followed by Mumbai and a round in Kolkata as the last stop for the series before the finals in Delhi.