Akhil Kumar, protege Jitender Singh begin their boxing pro careers with victories

Akhil Kumar and his protege Jitender Singh got their professional careers off to flying starts as they stopped their respective opponents here on Saturday. Jitender dominated his fight against Thailand's Thanet Likhitamporn in a lightweight (61.2 kilograms) contest.

It looked like the Indian would finish the fight off in the first round itself after he unleashed a flurry of power punches to have his adversary on the ropes. Even as the bell came to his defence, Likhitanporn couldn't last long in the second round.

The Thai looked absolutely hapless, taking the blows left, right and centre. And the referee had seen enough as he stopped the fight, declaring Jitender the winner by Technical Knockout (TKO)

Akhil suffered a cut above his left eye in the early stages of his junior welterweight (63.5 kilograms) contest against Australia's Ty Gilchrist.

However, the Indian went on the front foot thereafter as he hurled all the punches from his arsenal. One among them was a body shot that inflicted pain on Gilchrist's ribs, and the referee deemed the latter unfit to continue as it was another TKO win on the night.

Meanwhile, Neeraj Goyat's WBC Asian welterweight title defense against Allan Tanada of Philippines turned out to be a tricky affair with the bout going all the way.

It was, however, the holder who came on top, winning the slugfest by a unanimous decision (119-109, 119-109, 118-110).