Rajesh Kumar

Name: Rajesh Kumar
Alias: Rajesh Kasana Lukka
Birth Name: Rajesh Kumar
Hometown: Bhiwani, India
Birthplace: Bhiwani, India
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 168cm
Promoter: Record
Pro Boxer: Record

Rajesh Kumar Kasana, and he is popularly known as Lukka in the village.

Despite his evident talent, Rajesh is struggling to make ends meet. Rajesh runs a tea stall with his brother, and that has become his sole source of income. “I sell tea for Rs 10 and some eatables to earn my livelihood,” said Rajesh.

Waking up in the early hours of the morning, Rajesh opens his tea stall at 5 a.m. and operates it till 1 p.m. in the afternoon, following which his brother comes to take over. Following lunch and a brief siesta, he heads to a nearby boxing gym for practice.

He doesn’t mind the intense hustle for boxing glory because that’s precisely what his late father wanted. Speaking to the publication, Rajesh mentions that his father, a truck driver who succumbed to cancer when the promising fighter was in school, wanted him to become a professional boxer.

Rajesh has already gone on to fulfil his father’s dreams fighting his first professional bout in 2015, defeating Manpreet Singh.

Since then, he has gone onto fight another ten bouts, winning nine and drawing one in the lightweight category. He remains unbeaten—he is India’s best lightweight boxer and India’s 1st WBC youth world champion according to the WBC(World Boxing Council) professional boxing sanction body.

Like many great Indian athletes, life was very hard for the Haryana pugilist. A few years after Rajesh’s father passed away, his sister was diagnosed with cancer in 2011. Unable to pay for her treatment, the family was compelled to sell his ancestral property.

Despite their best efforts, she passed away in 2013. “I lost my father when I was in school. He was the backbone of our family. After his death, I left my studies and started driving. When things didn’t work out, I opened a stall after my friends gave me the suggestion,” he tells the Times of India.

Fortunately for Rajesh, he has Delhi-based Royal Sports Promotions in his corner, who has helped him get fights, pay for his boxing gloves, dietary necessities, and other daily expenses.