World Series of boxing not for faint-hearted: Akhil

The World Series of Boxing,scheduled for September next year,will have competed in five rounds with boxers having to fight without there head-guards.

The Series would comprise 12 franchisees of 10 boxers each,to be picked during the World Championship in Milan this August-September.

Akhil said if India gets to be one of the franchisees it would put the country on the world map. “It (World Series of Boxing) will highlight the boxers and put Indian boxers on top of the world,” Akhil said. There are supposed to be 12 franchisees,each made up of 10 fighters. Each match will have five rounds of three minutes each,” Akhil said.

“If it is finalised,each boxer will be selected after the world championship and stands to gain around Rs 15 lakhs to Rs 1.5 crore during the bidding.”

Akhil said the tournament will prove to be a win-win situation for the boxers and the Indian Boxing Federation. “The federation also stands to gain a lot out of it as they would receive a share of the money which will make them financially strong,” he explained.

Akhil was here for a week-long training and conditioning camp under physiotherapist Heath Metthews in the Pullela Gopichand academy and will make his feather weight debut in the Asian Championship in Kazakhstan in June.

But the Harayana boxer said people should not expect overnight success from him. “I haven’t played since the World Cup in December and have also changed my weight category. Although,I train with higher weight category boxers,it will still take some time for me to get into the groove,so don’t expect me to win straight away,” he said.