No sooner had his fight with Kerry Hope at the Thyagaraj Stadium ended, Vijender Singh was held aloft and carried around the ring on the shoulders of his trainer Lee Beard. Hope was held aloft similarly by his trainer Gareth Williams but neither of them seemed particularly convinced by this show of confidence. Indeed when the boxers eventually stood in the center of the ring and waited for the scores to be announced, it was Vijender who was declared the winner by unanimous decision. As if on cue, confetti popped from the corners of the ring as Vijender wrapped the bejeweled oversized brown belt around himself. As ‘Singh is king’ blared, the capacity crowd at the Thyagaraj stadium cheered deliriously. It’s unlikely there was any contingency prepared in case the coronation didn’t go as planned. Indeed, the result had an air of inevitability about it. You might have been hard pressed to find a member of the audience - assorted celebrities, actors, cricketers and politicians included - who actually expected Vijender to lose. Most of the buzz around the stadium and on social media (#VijenderSingh was the number one trend on twitter late evening) was about which round Vijender, who had six knock outs from as many fights before Saturday’s contest, would leave the Australian on the canvas. They waited good naturedly for the main event to start. The undercards had begun at 4.30pm and a little over five hours later, expectation had built up to a fever pitch. The crowd clapped politely for Hope as he entered the ring. By the time Vijender walked down the ramp for his first professional bout at home, the ring announcer could hardly be heard over the cheers. The bearpit atmosphere carried on into the fight itself. The mass in the stands collectively drew a breath inwards when Hope landed a punch. The slightest of Vijender’s connections was greeted with huge cheers. When the action dulled, there would be chanting. The ubiquitous ‘Singh is king’, followed by renditions of ‘Bharat mata ki jai’, ‘kangaroo ko maar’ and of course ‘knock out kar’. That knock out, however, would never materialise. Vijender would move to 7-0 but his perfect knockout record was scuffed up. The Australian Hope, who fell to 23-8 record, had taunted the Indian’s preparation in the run up to the fight and while he could not deliver on the upset he had promised, he didn’t quite roll over for the Indian as nearly all predicted he would. Negating southpaw advantage Vijender would have felt his confidence growing at the end of the first round of the bout. He seemed to have negated Hope’s southpaw advantage. He had successfully planted his lead foot outside Hopes nullifying Hope’s power shot. His stiff arm left jab was right in Hope’s eyeline, distracting him. Vijender connected with a jab to the face and then another followed by a right to the body. He smiled through his gumshield. The Indian’s big right hand - the one his trainer Lee Beard had said would end a fight - landed twice in succession in the final half minute of the second round. The bell rang just in time, saving Hope but surely he would be hurt for the third. He wasn’t. He came out strong. He landed a left jab that snapped Vijender’s head back. It was his turn to smile. Vijender continued to land but Hope kept responding, throwing in a cheeky grin every now and then. Vijender opened up a cut under his eye in the fourth, but yet his opponent kept advancing. By the time the bell rang signalling the end of the fifth, Vijender had been in the ring for the longest time in his professional career. He didn’t look like he was going to be there much longer. Two big rights stagger Hope. In his corner, Williams screamed for him to hang on. Vijender connects with another and yet the Australian clung on grimly. Vijender was never seriously troubled for the remainder of the bout. Hope continued to land pot shots but it was the Indian who found the big hits. Hope could have fallen in the ninth, and his legs buckled to a snapping right from the Indian but again he held on. That was the Indian’s last attempt at the knock out. He played out the final round for time, content to take the decision. While he may have lost, Hope had done enough to take two rounds according to two of the ringside judges who scored the bout 98-92. And by going the distance, he had done the Indian a bit of a favour as well. Vijender had said that he saw this bout as a stepping stone to bigger fights and tougher tests. He had also said he had wanted to get a few long rounds under his belt. Hope gave him that. The Indian took a number of the Australian’s shots and came out unfazed. It wasn’t the win the audience might have clamoured for but it was the win Vijender needed.
