Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Seasoned boxer Akhil Kumar, who turned professional last year, has ended his association with his promoters IOS Boxing Promotions, claiming non-fulfillment of contract terms.
“I have served a legal notice to IOS…it mentions about the breach of the agreement committed by the IOS,” Akhil told PTI on Thursday. IOS Boxing Promotions, which also manages star boxer Vijender Singh, however, denied receiving any legal notice from the former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist.
“We have not received any notice from him. But we are aware that he might be having some other plans. We don’t want to comment on the matter since we haven’t got anything,” IOS’ Managing Director Neerav Tomar told PTI.
Akhil had signed a multi-year deal with the company in 2016, under which he was promised six fights in a calendar. The 36-year-old former Olympic quarterfinalist has competed once since signing the deal, winning his debut contest.
Akhil’s lawyer Naveen Raheja rejected IOS’ claims of not receiving the legal notice. “We have acknowledgment of receipt from them and we have even been approached for a reconciliation after that. There are issues such as pending payments which need to be resolved.
They have not paid his dues and they were unprofessional,” he said.
“All I can say is that terms of the contract with him were not honoured,” he added. Akhil, a former Asian Championships bronze-medallist, had turned professional after a fairly successful amateur career, during which he also a World Cup bronze medal.
