After a fiery punch hammers her ribs, a well-directed kick catches 30-year-old Sonia Parab on her right jaw, knocking her down. But she is not out just yet.
Her Italian boxing-cum-mixed martial arts coach Fabrizio Petroni goads her opponent, a specialist wrestler Swapnil Barve, to finish “auntie” off.
“She’s old Swapnil, she’s an auntie. Finish her,” Petroni tells Barve, even as he walks over to Parab and pats her, urging her to stay alert and sustain the onslaught.
After the bout, Parab says, “This happens every day. He calls me auntie to coax me into performing better. I am 30 now and have been boxing for 14 years.”
The pin-sized Parab – she actually boxed in the pinweight category – is India’s only professional woman boxer. But with little money and opportunities in boxing, she is moving on. As are others like her.
All of them are augmenting their primary fighting craft to enter the world of mixed martial arts.
Chapora’s Tigers
As the lights and conversation begin to sparkle at Chapora’s ghettoish bars and sundry watering holes on winter evenings and the sweet smoke of many joints bonds with the vapour of fresh-brewed mint tea, it is time for the patrons to let their hair down. There are Indians and foreigners. There are regular folks and those with funky bikes, exotic tattoos, dreadlocks, pierced ears.
A short distance from the grungy but iconic Chapora lane, near a picturesque fishing jetty, fighters at the Tiger Boxing Academy warm up under bare tubelights.
In one boxing ring, three fighters who have made a mental switch from boxing to mixed martial arts – Parab, Barve and Nelson Paes – strap on their gloves and shin pads for a series of bouts ahead under the supervision of Petroni, a former Italian boxer.
Since starting his coaching stint in India 14 years ago, Petroni has served as head coach for the Goa state boxing team and worked as consultant with the Punjab Boxing Association.
Unexpected elements
“There is not much chance for boxers to move forward these days, but mixed martial arts is growing everywhere in the world,” Petroni told Scroll.in. “So why not? And it is the ultimate fighting sport.”
Unlike boxing or other standard martial arts fights, the opponents can come from various fighting styles in a typical mixed martial arts fight. A karate expert could take on a boxer or a Muay Thai practitioner or a Judoka could match skills with a grappler.
“The different styles not only bring variety, but also unexpected elements to the fight, which is making mixed martial arts popular all over the world,” Petroni said.
The three fighters he is currently training were bloodied at the Super Fight League, a mixed martial arts tourney that was floated in 2012 by businessman Raj Kundra and actor Sanjay Dutt but failed to take off.
Kick and punch
Amid reports of other such martial arts-oriented matches cropping up in India, Goa’s own mixed martial arts fighter Paes is training every day to get in better shape.
Nelson’s expertise is Muay Thai, but he is battling a professional Italian boxer nearly 25 kilograms heavier than him. “The bigger my opponent is in training, the easier it is to fight on match day,” he says, touching his jaw “still ringing” from the blows by the Italian, a friend of Petroni.
Parab, according to Petroni, is the first Indian woman boxer to go professional and secure a boxing licence from the Russian Professional Boxing Federation. But there are no fights coming her way, she says, and the mixed martial arts could promise an alternative platform.
“I can punch as a boxer, but in mixed martial arts there are other forms of combat that need to be mastered,” said Parab, who is called Goa’s Mary Kom after the Olympic-winning pugilist. “Also the kick and punch coordination is key.”
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Her Italian boxing-cum-mixed martial arts coach Fabrizio Petroni goads her opponent, a specialist wrestler Swapnil Barve, to finish “auntie” off.
“She’s old Swapnil, she’s an auntie. Finish her,” Petroni tells Barve, even as he walks over to Parab and pats her, urging her to stay alert and sustain the onslaught.
After the bout, Parab says, “This happens every day. He calls me auntie to coax me into performing better. I am 30 now and have been boxing for 14 years.”
The pin-sized Parab – she actually boxed in the pinweight category – is India’s only professional woman boxer. But with little money and opportunities in boxing, she is moving on. As are others like her.
All of them are augmenting their primary fighting craft to enter the world of mixed martial arts.
Chapora’s Tigers
As the lights and conversation begin to sparkle at Chapora’s ghettoish bars and sundry watering holes on winter evenings and the sweet smoke of many joints bonds with the vapour of fresh-brewed mint tea, it is time for the patrons to let their hair down. There are Indians and foreigners. There are regular folks and those with funky bikes, exotic tattoos, dreadlocks, pierced ears.
A short distance from the grungy but iconic Chapora lane, near a picturesque fishing jetty, fighters at the Tiger Boxing Academy warm up under bare tubelights.
In one boxing ring, three fighters who have made a mental switch from boxing to mixed martial arts – Parab, Barve and Nelson Paes – strap on their gloves and shin pads for a series of bouts ahead under the supervision of Petroni, a former Italian boxer.
Since starting his coaching stint in India 14 years ago, Petroni has served as head coach for the Goa state boxing team and worked as consultant with the Punjab Boxing Association.
Unexpected elements
“There is not much chance for boxers to move forward these days, but mixed martial arts is growing everywhere in the world,” Petroni told Scroll.in. “So why not? And it is the ultimate fighting sport.”
Unlike boxing or other standard martial arts fights, the opponents can come from various fighting styles in a typical mixed martial arts fight. A karate expert could take on a boxer or a Muay Thai practitioner or a Judoka could match skills with a grappler.
“The different styles not only bring variety, but also unexpected elements to the fight, which is making mixed martial arts popular all over the world,” Petroni said.
The three fighters he is currently training were bloodied at the Super Fight League, a mixed martial arts tourney that was floated in 2012 by businessman Raj Kundra and actor Sanjay Dutt but failed to take off.
Kick and punch
Amid reports of other such martial arts-oriented matches cropping up in India, Goa’s own mixed martial arts fighter Paes is training every day to get in better shape.
Nelson’s expertise is Muay Thai, but he is battling a professional Italian boxer nearly 25 kilograms heavier than him. “The bigger my opponent is in training, the easier it is to fight on match day,” he says, touching his jaw “still ringing” from the blows by the Italian, a friend of Petroni.
Parab, according to Petroni, is the first Indian woman boxer to go professional and secure a boxing licence from the Russian Professional Boxing Federation. But there are no fights coming her way, she says, and the mixed martial arts could promise an alternative platform.
“I can punch as a boxer, but in mixed martial arts there are other forms of combat that need to be mastered,” said Parab, who is called Goa’s Mary Kom after the Olympic-winning pugilist. “Also the kick and punch coordination is key.”
