Mohammad Waseem confident of beating Jakrawut in title defence

By Alam Zeb Safi
LAHORE: Pakistan’s premier professional boxer and WBA bantamweight world champion Mohammad Waseem is brimming with confidence ahead of his title defence in Lahore.
“Yes, I am in good shape and confident I will defend the title,” Waseem told thecricketplus.com on Friday.
Waseem is set to face Thailand’s Jakrawut Majungoen in the WBA bantamweight gold fight at the Lahore Garrison’s Jinnah Sports Complex with the bout scheduled to begin around 6:30 pm on Saturday.
The 36-year-old champion recently completed a rigorous two-month training camp in England, using Liverpool as his base. He also engaged in top-level sparring sessions in Birmingham and London.
“Training went very well and now it’s time to deliver,” said Waseem, who cleared his weigh-in and routine medical examination on Friday.
This will be Waseem’s second professional fight in Lahore. He previously competed in the city in December 2020, defeating the Philippines’ Jeny Boy Boca in a ranking bout.
In May this year, Waseem captured the WBA world title in Quetta after a sensational victory over Venezuela’s Winston Orono, knocking him out in the ninth round of a fiercely contested bout witnessed by a massive crowd.
Waseem has fought 16 professional bouts, winning 14, including 10 by knockout. His only two losses came in world title fights against South Africa’s Moruti Mthalane and England’s Sunny Edwards.
He turned professional in 2015 following a decade-long amateur career, months after claiming a bronze medal for Pakistan at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
Waseem rose to prominence in 2016 by winning the WBC flyweight world silver title in just his fourth professional bout, later defending it successfully against the highly rated Giemel Magramo of the Philippines.
In July 2018, he narrowly missed an opportunity to claim the IBF world title in Kuala Lumpur, losing a close contest to Moruti Mthalane of South Africa despite dominating large portions of the fight. In March 2022, he again fell short in an IBF world title challenge, losing to Sunny Edwards in Dubai in what many observers labelled a controversial decision.
For a significant period, Waseem also held the WBC No 1 ranking, a remarkable achievement for the Quetta-born fighter.
Despite his accomplishments, various visa issues disrupted key years of his career. A scheduled world title fight in Dubai was cancelled after he was denied a UAE visa due to an administrative error. On another occasion, he was refused entry to a Central Asian country where he had planned to train. Waseem even appealed to the PTI government for a diplomatic passport but his request went unanswered.
The ongoing event features 44 professional boxers from 15 countries, including six from Pakistan.
Pakistan’s squad, led by Waseem, includes Waqas, Asim Zaman, Mohibullah, Jania, and Komal Akhlaq.
Pugilists from the United States, England, Germany, France, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Argentina, Thailand, Dominican Republic, South Korea, the Philippines, Ghana, and Nigeria are participating in the 2nd International Boxing Championship.
Waseem is being coached by Danny Vaughan. The event is a big milestone in Pakistan’s boxing history.