Pakistan’s premier professional boxer Mohammad Waseem has won his third World Boxing Council (WBC) world silver flyweight title. It was a glorious effort from the experienced but still a much more agile fighter who downed tough Rober Barrera of Colombia in the 12-round fight through a unanimous decision. The fight kept fluctuating and it was Waseem who in the end did the job. In the fourth and fifth rounds, Waseem unsettled his younger opponent, who before this had played two world title bouts.

It was indeed a good effort from Waseem as he was playing after a year due to Covid issues. For this fight initially he could not proceed to his training hometown Glasgow due to travel restrictions and had to start training in Dubai under his trainer Danny Vaughan. But later when the restrictions were lifted he flew to Glasgow and underwent training for a month and had some solid sparring which he was unable to get in Dubai. So, he trained for three months for this fight which was also the final WBA world title eliminator.

Waseem had won the WBC world silver title for the first time when he defeated Jether Rodrigo Oliva of the Philippines on July 17, 2016, in Seoul. He then defended it on November 27, 2016, when he defeated dangerous Giemel Magramo of the Philippines, also in Seoul. However, Waseem, also a former WBC No1, then failed to contest his title defence bout due to financial issues.

During his brief but superb career Waseem has lost only one fight when he was controversially undone by South Africa’s Moruti Mthalane in the IBF world flyweight title bout in Kuala Lumpur on July 15, 2018.

He has played 13 bouts so far and won 12, with eight-knock-outs.

Now there are various options before Waseem. He is expected to defend this WBC world silver title within three months. If his management decides against this then he will go directly to play the WBC world title bout. He may also go for the WBC and WBA unification world title fight.

Waseem, who received injuries during his fight with Barrera, has been asked by his management to spend time with his family.

Waseem was declared a spent force by the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) in 2014-2015, but today, seven years later, he is still in his element. He is a fighter who has won the hearts of the people in the entire world and he truly deserves to win the world title in the near future.

“It was a tough fight as Barrera is a good fighter,” Waseem told ‘The News on Sunday’ (TNS). “During his pre-fight press conference Barrera said that he had planned for Waseem as he had seen my videos but I had worked differently and you can see that I played totally in a different way and that was part of the plan,” said Waseem, also the 2014 Incheon Asian Games bronze medallist.

“I am thankful to my trainer Danny Vaughan who worked hard with me,” he said. “For my next fight I plan to go to the United States to undergo training as there I will be able to get some good sparring partners. I am also thankful to my management MTK Global and my promotion Probellum for the way they looked after me. I am also thankful to the Pakistani fans and of the entire world for their love,” Waseem said.

But still nothing big came from the government for the boxer. When Waseem won the first WBC world silver title the reigning premier Imran Khan congratulated him but this time nothing like that was seen.

When Waseem was financially in trouble the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif handed him a hefty amount of Rs24 million that helped the fighter to meet his training expenses. At that time he was playing under AK Promotions of South Korea.

Waseem is happy that the DG PSB Col (retd) Mohammad Asif Zaman contacted him and appreciated his performance.

We should appreciate such rare achievements of our heroes. If we set aside cricket we have hardly a few heroes in other sports and if we don’t recognise their achievements it will be unfortunate. Both state and corporate sectors should honour Waseem.

Till writing of this article no one at the top level had invited him. The chief ministers of the provinces are also silent. This was mentioned by the fighter during his media talk on arrival here at the Jinnah International Airport.

Waseem has urged the government to promote sports. He is not happy with the way the PTI government is dealing with sports. He has also advised the government not to abolish the departmental sports system as it will destroy sports.

Waseem aims to establish indoor facilities through the assistance of his management and promotion so that Pakistan’s youth could be trained there for future national duty.

Email: 73.alam@gmail.com