IMPHAL: Celebrated Indian woman boxer L. Sarita Devi comfortably outpunched Zsofia Bedo of Hungary to make a winning start to her professional career in the IBC Fight Night at the at the Khuman Lampak Stadium, here on January 29. Zofia Bedo had challenged to reduce Sarita to tears but it was Sarita who settled the scores in the ring in front of roaring fans at her hometown. The Iron Lady of Indian boxing, Sarita won the bout by unanimous verdict. Zsofia and Sarita have been engaged in verbal spats since the announcement of this bout. The Hungarian had said that she would reduce Sarita to tears yet again. But the Hungarian was forced to clinch Sarita time and again to escape the flurry of hooks and punches. Zsofia had an experience of 59 pro bouts behind her, but debutante Sarita was a better boxer from the word go, flooring Zofia in round two. The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games Silver medallist, Sarita proved her overall superiority and made it clear that she is here to stay in the professional world. Earlier, Pinki Jangra justified the giant killer tag in her first ever professional bout. The 26-year-old Haryana girl beat Claudia Ferenczi of Slovakia in the IBC Fight Night. Pinki won the bout 40-36, 40-36, 40-36 by unanimous verdict on the score sheets of all judges. Veteran Som Bahadur Poon knocked out his light heavy weight opponent Manop Siththiem of Thailand in mere four-and-half minutes to start his professional career. In the Super Welter Weight IBC National Champion title bout, four-time champion Siddharth Verma successfully defended his crown with a technical knock out against fellow countryman Jaganathan.
Boxer Sarita Devi wins on pro debut; Pinki, Poon make winning starts
- by Prashant Shah
- January 31, 2017 2 minutes