Middleweight Vijender Singh made an immediate impact in his
professional debut this month when he destroyed Sonny Whiting in three rounds
at the Manchester Arena.
The fight was televised live in India on Sony Six with an
estimated 20m viewers tuning in - arguably the largest ever audience for a
boxer’s professional debut.
Vijender Singh 29, who will be celebrating his birthday a
day before second fight, will now face Nottingham ’s
Gillen over four rounds as he looks to claim the record of his first unbeaten
pro fighter.
Gillen made his pro debut in May this year with a points win
over Shaun White and followed that up in September with a points win over Lewis
Van Poetsch.
The fight between Singh and Gillen also represents a Battle of the Badges, with Vijender Singh a Deputy
Superintendent of Police in his native Haryana and Gillen a firefighter serving
in Nottingham .
As an amateur, Gillen’s highlight was to win the 2013 World
Police and Fire Fighter Games in Belfast
where he knocked out all of his opponents to claim the Gold medal and now he
aims to extinguish Singh’s fire in the ring.
Gillen, 33, said, “I’ve watched him in the Olympics and in
his pro-debut, he’s a world class kid and I can’t wait to get in there and put
him to the test,”
“He’s an Olympian and that speaks for itself, he’s a hero in
his country and he’s idolised by millions of people, but at some point he’ll
have to get beat and that could well be his second fight against me,”
“I’m certainly no journeyman and I’m not going in to make up
numbers, I’m here to fight and win. I know the odds are stacked against
me, but when you’re facing life risking tasks through your job then fighting
someone like Singh is a walk in the park,”
“I will be coming for him. I’ve got the heart of a
lion and a serious will to win. I’ve got a strong jab and the reach to
take advantage of him, backed up with a solid chin and a real desire and with
nothing to lose, I think I’m going to be a really dangerous opponent for
Singh,”
“Add to the fact I’ve never lost to a Police boxer in the
amateurs and with stacks of pride and honour on the line, I refuse to lose,”
Vijender Singh is in serious training in Manchester with
coach Lee Beard as he aims to beat Gillen and stay on track to achieve his
history making dream to become India’s first ever world professional boxing
champion.
“I can’t wait for this fight against Gillen, he’s talking
the fight and it looks like he will bring me a challenge in my second fight,”
Said Singh.
“From what I have seen of him he looks like a good opponent
who will push me and I hope he does because then the better I will fight, I
rise to my opponent and it brings the best out in me,”
“He’s got an unbeaten record, albeit two fights, and it’s a
big motivator for me to claim his first loss, if I can stop him, like against
Whiting, then that will be another good win for me,”
“While I was pleased with my pro-debut there is still plenty
that I need to work on in my defence and offence and I’ve been training hard
with Lee to correct things and improve, it’s a continual process and it will
happen fight by fight,”
“Being a fireman, he’ll be used to dealing with fire and
coping with heat but this is one fire he won’t be putting out and it will be an
entertaining fight for the fans in my first pro fight in the capital.”
A quality packed show is headlined by WBO European
Super-Middleweight Champion Jamie Cox who defends his title for the
first time. The undercard features red hot light-heavyweight Tom
Baker from Chingford in the chief-supporting contest against Margate ’s Jack
Morris for the Vacant Southern Area Light-Heavyweight Championship.
The undercard features a host of top talents: Bushey
light-heavyweight Miles Shinkwin, Islington
light-middleweight Georgie Kean vs Nottingham’s Nathan
Macintosh; West Ham light-middleweight Sam McNess vs Kevin McCauley;
Ilford light-heavyweight Anthony Yarde vs Derby’s Elvis
Dube; Jez Smith, younger brother of super-featherweight
star Mitchell takes on Newark’s Fonz Alexanderover four rounds
at middleweight; Acton flyweight Prince Patel faces GatesheadGary
Reeve; Chingford lightweight Archie
Sharp tackles Hereford’s Dean Evans; plus the professional debut
of West Ham light-welterweight Ben Smith who faces
Nuneaton’s Kristian Laight and also Sidcup’s
light-welterweight D.P Carr who takes on Trowbridge’s Dan Carr.
Press release
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