Vijender Singh cruised to a comfortable win against Tanzanian Francis Cheka, registering a knockout win in just three rounds in New Delhi on Saturday. With this, he retained the WBO Asia Pacific super middleweight title.

This win takes Singh’s tally in professional boxing to a formidable eight consecutive wins, which includes seven knockouts. Coming into the bout, it was Cheka who was the favourite, given his vast experience and an impressive track record to boot.

Cheka was on the frontfoot in the first round, forcing Singh to fight cautiously but the Indian landed a couple of crucial punches towards the end. Singh was in fine form in the second, jabbing at will across the 34-year-old’s face, landing seven punches to his opponent’s three. The bout ended with a little more than a minute left in the third round, with a series of hooks from Singh forcing Cheka to withdraw from the contest.