Former Olympic medallist and professional star Amir Khan feels India has a robust system in place to keep producing good boxers for the world stage and singled out 2017 World Championship bronze-winner Gaurav Bidhuri for Olympic glory at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The 32-year-old from Bolton, who clinched the WBCinternational welterweight title during a Super Boxing League (SBL) bout inJeddah last week, believes India have the wherewithal to produce champions, whocan follow the likes of Vijender Singh and MC Mary Kom.
“Indian boxing is doing very good. What I like is thatthey have a system which not many countries have,” Amir, who had knocked outAustralian Billy Dib last Saturday, told PTI during an interview.
“In India, all fighters get an opportunity to fightinternational tournaments, they are funded and they also get paid, becausethese boxers can’t get jobs as they have to focus on boxing.
“All countries should follow this system. That’s whythey have Olympic medallists like Vijender and Mary Kom and many more will comefrom this, it will only inspire the next generation.”
Asked if India can win a medal at the 2020 Olympics, theBritish-born boxer said: “One kid I follow is Gaurav Bidhuri, he is a verygood boxer. I like his style, I like how he fights, how he pushes himself. Ihave seen his videos.
“This kid will get far, if he can stay focussed. He isin the national team and he made a lot of noises, he had some goodperformances,” added Amir, a two-time world champion.
Bidhuri is only the fourth Indian boxer to get a medal atWorld Championship, claiming the bronze at the 2017 edition in Hamburg,Germany.
Speaking on other issues in boxing, Amir said it is a shamethat the International Boxing Association (AIBA) was suspended last month andthe International Olympic Committee took over the qualification and competitionfor the Tokyo Olympics.
“It is crazy what is happening in boxing. IOC has takenfull control and AIBA has been stripped off. I fought under AIBA rules and itwas fine when I was around, but is just a shame, you know they are not givingopportunities to young fighters,” he said.
“AIBA needs to be there and so they need to set up aproper committee and work hand-in-hand. It is the only way boxing will work.Without amateur boxing, I won’t be here, so I know how much amateur boxingmeans. Champion boxers like Mike Tyson, all of them started from amateur. Sowithout AIBA it is going to be difficult.”
Amir said he is planning to open super boxing gyms in Indiaand Pakistan next year.
“I would like to help these boxers in any way I can. My foundation is helping less fortunate people around the world. I do work in Africa, Gambia, I worked with Shilpa Shetty in India. We focus on children, building orphanage, education, health, school, hospitals,” he said. “I would love to open an academy in India. But we will start a super boxing gyms in India to start with. Now the focus is on Saudi Arabia, so next year definitely will start in India and Pakistan.” PTI