Vijender Singh beaten by unheralded Russian

[TheLeprechaun]

He really looks poor here from start to finish. Some terrible reffing too. A few knockdowns not scored and plenty of time for Singh to recover. Singh quits in the end.

[Controversial]

Yes poor, looked flabby and uninterested. He won’t be going anywhere fighting and training like that but saying that he’s 35 so makes you wonder what his motivation is now.

[veriton]

Weird career, can remember him getting the big build up on allegedly - then just seemed to disappear. I guess he can always say he was Terry Flanagan's warm-up act.

[Controversial]

Weird career, can remember him getting the big build up on allegedly - then just seemed to disappear. I guess he can always say he was Terry Flanagan's warm-up act.

Someone on Twitter mentioned a political career so maybe he lost interest with boxing

[Boxerbeetle]

Strange performance, didn’t take much at all to knock him down multiple times.

[Controversial]

Strange performance, didn’t take much at all to knock him down multiple times.

I wonder if anyone made a lot of money betting on that

[maverick23]

Some very dodgy reffing in that one.

I remember FW saying that he was a massive star in India and was akin to David Beckham over there.

There’s a lot of poverty in India but there’s also massive wealth too so it’s surprising that they haven’t had big time boxing over there.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Did he forget it was a pro fight.

He started off well, then after a few KD’s, looked like he just couldn’t be bothered.

[THEBUTCH]

Singh was a career amateur really. His opponent had that classic Russian style, but still novicey as a pro.

Singh just kept folding under pressure, albeit solid shots, and probably isn't best suited to the pros.

As for the referee...incompetent or crooked

[jameswilson]

Was this the guy that was gonna be hosting shows in front of 100,000 people in India?

[maverick23]

Was this the guy that was gonna be hosting shows in front of 100,000 people in India?

[Monzon83]

Stick to cricket.

There will never be a top Indian boxer at professional level anyway. It's just not a sport that's in them culturally.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Stick to cricket.

There will never be a top Indian boxer at professional level anyway. It's just not a sport that's in them culturally.

That Neeraj guy who was supposed to box Khan in Saudi was on the card too

[rio]

Anyone remember Helder Ali? Warren signed him and was meant to become the 2nd coming of Naz.

[knockout]

Anyone remember Helder Ali? Warren signed him and was meant to become the 2nd coming of Naz.

Haider Ali, decent amateur, relocated half way around the world, then in my opinion they messed up his matchmaking and put him too deep too early which didn’t help.. look at the guys he fought compared to the usual 10 transition fights prospects normally get when turning pro...

As always it’s not just about how talented you are, it’s also important how well you are promoted and matched.

[THEBUTCH]

Haider Ali looked great winning Gold at the Commonweath games. His pro career just didn't get off the ground and he looked out of sorts in the paid ranks.

You're right, knockout, that matchmaking is a crucial part of a having successful career but Ali didn't even shine against opposition he was supposed to beat.

Go back to the Commonwealths and he looked a star in the making.

[Londonirish]

Anyone remember Helder Ali? Warren signed him and was meant to become the 2nd coming of Naz.

Haider Ali, decent amateur, relocated half way around the world, then in my opinion they messed up his matchmaking and put him too deep too early which didn’t help.. look at the guys he fought compared to the usual 10 transition fights prospects normally get when turning pro...

As always it’s not just about how talented you are, it’s also important how well you are promoted and matched.

He was a talent but once the head guard came off he was different fighter, nothing to do with being match hard too early. Who would you say was too deep too early? He fought Bell and got beat in his 4th fight, his 7th fight he got beat by Daniel Thorpe who was 18-44-2 at time his 9th fight and drew against Carl Alan who was 18-48-5.

[jameswilson]

Just watched the footage. Anyone else feel like a fix was in?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Just watched the footage. Anyone else feel like a fix was in?

So obvious.. went on longer than he wanted, and then thought fûck it..

[margaret thatcher]

Just watched the footage. Anyone else feel like a fix was in?

as in they fixed this result for the russian dude?

or they tried to fix it for veej? cuz the ref was defo on his side and should've called at least 2 more knockdowns and also not have given him that big recovery break.

[margaret thatcher]

singh was already past his best when he turned pro, as an am he was in better shape and a lot quicker and more mobile, i remember being impressed with him in the ams, then when seeing him as a pro having to do a double take to make sure it was the same guy

[knockout]

Anyone remember Helder Ali? Warren signed him and was meant to become the 2nd coming of Naz.

Haider Ali, decent amateur, relocated half way around the world, then in my opinion they messed up his matchmaking and put him too deep too early which didn’t help.. look at the guys he fought compared to the usual 10 transition fights prospects normally get when turning pro...

As always it’s not just about how talented you are, it’s also important how well you are promoted and matched.

He was a talent but once the head guard came off he was different fighter, nothing to do with being match hard too early. Who would you say was too deep too early? He fought Bell and got beat in his 4th fight, his 7th fight he got beat by Daniel Thorpe who was 18-44-2 at time his 9th fight and drew against Carl Alan who was 18-48-5.

Irish : not saying he would have been a great Pro, but fighting 3 unbeaten guys in your first 6 fights isn’t the typical method, especially back then.

Tough debut against come to win Buster Dennis , 2nd fight yes a standard journeyman, 3rd fight against another tough guy Jus Wallie , 4th fight Stevie Bell who was undefeated, then 9-0 Jamie Arthur and 11-0 Ricky Burns.

Not many prospects get that kind of early and maybe a slightly more gentle pace may have helped the transition

[Coco]

Ali was 24 going pro, not selling any tickets, it was only worthwhile investing in him if he was going somewhere.
After taking on 3 of the usual suspects he was given Steven Bell, another one who turned over late and wasn't ripping anything up.
It was thought to see whether these fighters would sink or swim. Bell got past Ali, sold a few tickets but little more.
The same with Burns, neither was being particularly looked after and they were thrown in together to see who could hold onto their contract.
It is how it is done, you get a contract from a promoter, they give you a few of the usual suspects, but if you aren't selling tickets you will then get stuck in against one of your promoters other boys to see who is worth investing in.
Ali came up short against Bell and Burns. Bell came up short in other fights, Burns ploughed on and while losing a couple of domestic showdowns he persevered and ending up winning the important ones.
In reality Ali wasn't good enough to win the important ones and didn't selling enough tickets to be kept on given opportunities..
Same old, same old, this is the business of boxing.

[mickey1975]

Ali was 24 going pro, not selling any tickets, it was only worthwhile investing in him if he was going somewhere.
After taking on 3 of the usual suspects he was given Steven Bell, another one who turned over late and wasn't ripping anything up.
It was thought to see whether these fighters would sink or swim. Bell got past Ali, sold a few tickets but little more.
The same with Burns, neither was being particularly looked after and they were thrown in together to see who could hold onto their contract.
It is how it is done, you get a contract from a promoter, they give you a few of the usual suspects, but if you aren't selling tickets you will then get stuck in against one of your promoters other boys to see who is worth investing in.
Ali came up short against Bell and Burns. Bell came up short in other fights, Burns ploughed on and while losing a couple of domestic showdowns he persevered and ending up winning the important ones.
In reality Ali wasn't good enough to win the important ones and didn't selling enough tickets to be kept on given opportunities..
Same old, same old, this is the business of boxing.

Yes. And fwank thought he could tap into the Indian market.... not a lot of ticket sellers are Indian. Pakistani, yes.

[knockout]

Not specific to Haider Ali situation , but back in late 90s early 00s , the promoter in question had probably the best TV contract in Europe.
Yet was still totally obsessed with the “you need to sell tickets” ... as if he was a small hall promoter with no tv money.

Granted it’s a business at the end of the day but at that time the obsession with only pushing Ticket sellers was an over sight and a longer term business model should have been applied.

Plenty of quality foreign fighters over here who could have gone places if they had been given a bit of a push and would have given a return on the investment.

I am sure you know the type of people I am talking about guys like Peter Oboh , Glen Johnson even Nick Valuev and John Ruiz’s fought over here a few times early in their career.

The German market was ahead of the game , they realised you didn’t have to be a huge ticket seller immediately and you didn’t even need to be a local fighter... but if they built you right and if you are good enough people will come and watch.

Kovalev / GGG could have easily been signed up by FW, they wouldn’t have sold out York hall in their early fights but they would go on to sell out arenas.