Fighting Fit

Bill Dosanjh is confident that his newly-launched Super Boxing League will revolutionise the sport in India.

- Alshaar Khan

“EVERYBODY HAS A PLAN, until they get punched in the face,” Mike Tyson once said. Every pugilist might not be destined for Olympic glory, so the next best thing to do is turn professional. Barring Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh, though, India has hardly seen any of its scrappers make the most of this system — and this is exactly what British entrepreneur Bill Dosanjh wants to turn around, with his franchise based Super Boxing League, being promoted in India by Olympic medallist and two time world champion boxer Amir Khan.

Following the curtain raiser on July 7, the competition will have entered its business end soon after, with the finals slated to be staged on August 12. But Bill, who has successfully laid the foundation for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in India (with the Super Fight League), remained confident on the day of the flag off for the SBL’s first edition.

“The country has leagues for sports like cricket, badminton, kabaddi and hockey, because people like to see a good fight between the teams or players. Even on the streets, if there are two people fighting, a crowd gathers to watch them. So in layman terms, SBL is here to slot these fights into a more organised format. And in fact, boxing has a much larger fan base than MMA, so there’s no reason why it won’t flourish, given the success of the SFL,” he said.