Former Indian Olympians Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar registered knock-out wins in their first professional bouts on Saturday.
36-year-old Akhil faced Ty Gilchrist of Australia in a four-round, Junior Welterweight (63 kg) contest. Glichrist, a veteran of 13 bouts, could not continue after the second round, handing a win by technical knock-out for the veteran Indian boxer. It did not start that well for the Beijing 2008 quarter-finalist, with a punch from the Australian made him bleed.
But that didn’t deter Akhil, as he came out swinging in the second round, having his guard down, teasing the Australian and then landing some serious punches.
Jitender begins with a win, too
Jitender, on the other hand, was up against Thailand’s Thanet Likhitkamporn in the lightweight category and was at complete ease in the ring, taking less than two rounds to register his first victory. The 28-year-old, who had a clear height advantage over his opponent, took just a few minutes to find his feet and finished the first round strongly with a series of strong punches. The second round started much the same way the first ended, and it was only a matter of time before the Thai boxer would pull out. The referees deemed that he was not fit to continue fighting, handing a win by TKO to the Bhiwani lad.
Delighted with the win Jitender said, much to the delight of the still-assembling crowd, that he wants to be a world champion soon. Akhil, who received the loudest cheer of the night till that poitn, for his part, reiterated that age was just a number for him.