Vijender Singh vs Kerry Hope: No big Hope for a big upset in New Delhi

So while they would undoubtedly be thrilled by the fact that the overwhelming feeling at the weigh-in was that Vijender’s victory over Hope was a certainty, the Indian’s promoters tried belatedly to make it seem that the contest was a lot closer than it was being made out to be.

The assorted Bollywood stars and starlets expected to be present ringside on fight night would likely understand. Suspension of disbelief is a must if you want to appreciate the standard Bollywood potboiler. The audience knows the hero is going to be victorious in the end of the movie but a good script convinces them to believe the protagonist faces true danger and impossible odds that would stop him from accomplishing said victory.

The bout — which the organisers have sold as the biggest pro boxing event to be held in India — is one in which Vijender has a real fight on his hands, his promoters insist. “Kerry isn’t just here to make numbers. He is a good fighter and he will be trying to win the belt himself,” cautioned Francis Warren, CEO of Queensberry Promotions, which manages the Indian. When during a photo opportunity, Vijender tried to grab at the oversized bejeweled regional WBO title belt, his promoter Neerav Tomar jerked it away while saying “you have to win it first,” with a smile.

The Australian Hope has accepted he is the pantomime villain of this story arc. He has done his best to court heat. A month ago at an event he had said Vijender had fought only ‘tin cans’. At Friday’s weigh-in, he had flexed his biceps and when asked about his training for the fight had thrown a verbal jab at the Indian standing next to him. “I have trained very hard and I can see that he hasn’t. So I am very confident,” Hope, said taking a dig at Vijender’s heavy promotional schedule ahead of the fight. When asked about Vijender’s Bollywood career, Hope said the Indian would lose his movie star looks by the end of the fight. And when Vijender was asked who he would dedicate the title belt to (why bother if indeed he would), Hope interjected quipping “Vijender is going to have to wait a long time for that.”
If this was indeed a Bollywood movie, Vijender might be playing the square jawed strong silent type. “We will see tomorrow night,” was the Indian’s standard response to Hope’s barbs.

A more cynical mind though would accept that Vijender is the overwhelming favourite to win the fight. Physically, he is bigger (75.7kg to Hope’s 74.9kg). He is taller and has the benefit of a longer reach. He has a far superior knock out ratio (he has won all six of his fights this way) and Kerry isn’t a particularly heavy puncher (he has won just 2 of 30 bouts by way of TKO). And while Hope has been fighting infrequently, Vijender has been in constant training and competition over the past year. The hardest case is made by those who are not distracted by tough talk but look steely eyed at the financial bottom line — the punting sites. If you were a betting man, you would put your money on the Indian. Odds on his winning hover around the 1/12 mark. Put a dollar on Hope on the other hand and you would make another seven in the surprise chance that the Australian somehow manages a win.

And so while sport and boxing thrives on surprises, the chances of one occurring on Saturday evening appear slim. For what its worth though, it’s unlikely either Vijender’s promoters or the crowd at Thyagaraj stadium would be complaining as long as the fight night stays mostly on script with the hero of their choice emerging victorious.