I am back on track, says Vijender Singh

During the course of his cat-and-mouse fight with Ghana's Ernest Amuzu in Jaipur on Saturday, Vijender Singh received a powerful blow on his forehead. The Indian received a big cut with a bit of blood, and he says he feared that the fight would be stopped due to medical injury.

"Luckily, my team did enough work on it during the time-out to repair the damage, and I came out fighting much stronger," he said.

This little footnote in Vijender's 10th professional victory on Saturday best describes the 32-year-old's pro journey so far.

Having taken the plunge into the largely uncharted world of professional boxing in 2015, the 2008 Olympic bronze-medallist had a seemingly unstoppable start.

Vijender fought eight bouts between October 2015 and December 2016, coming out triumphant in all of them and winning as well as retaining the WBO Asia Pacific super middleweight title.

But thereafter, his drive on the fast lane was checked by a few speed breakers.

Vijender didn't enter the ring for the entire first half of this year. If that wasn't alarming enough, he split with his international promoters – Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions – in May, due to lack of fights and failed monetary negotiations.

The two warring parties got back together in July, and Vijender has fought two bouts since, but his high-flying pro career had already been pulled back to some extent.

The year 2017, thus, has been akin to that blow he received from Amuzu on Saturday. It ingrained a sense of uncertainty in his mind, and threatened to derail his professional career. But he was quick to dismiss the doubts and come back harder, just like he did against Amuzu after repairing the cut.

"Boxing is not a government job," Vijender told DNA from Jaipur on Sunday, reflecting upon his relatively quiet year.

"It's a pure professional sport. And It's not easy. There are so many factors involved in being a professional boxer, so many things that are beyond my control. So, such setbacks are bound to happen sometimes," he added.

Vijender is honest enough to admit that he ought to be fighting a lot more than he did in 2017.

"It's okay. It happens in professional boxing. But yes, we have to fight more in the next year and the years thereafter. Maybe three or four fights. We have to plan accordingly," he said.

Probably nothing can be as demotivating for a professional boxer than lack of fights, but Vijender found solace in the fact that he was aware about the scenario staring at him at every given point of time throughout the year.

"I was always in the loop. I knew what was going on with my team, I knew what was going on with my career. So, I knew each and every thing that was happening around me. It's not like it came as a shock to me. I knew which direction we were heading to, and what were the reasons for it," he said.

Much like he knows the direction he is heading towards now. Vijender has two titles – WBO Asia Pacific and WBO Oriental super middleweight – under his belt at the moment, and is eyeing the Commonwealth and world titles next year.

"I am back on track. We finished the year on a positive note, and with two titles. It was my 10th professional fight, my 10th professional victory. I am satisfied with that.

"Step by step, I'm climbing the ladder of professional boxing, and going towards the world title," he said.

Critics insist the Indian's true mettle in professional boxing can only be tested once he fights much stronger opponents, and not the lower-ranked ones like Amuzu.

Vijender, though, is in no hurry to prove them wrong.

"When I started boxing, when I beat Olympic champions, my ranking was nothing. A lot of people say that without a world title, Vijender won't be anything. I don't consider these kind of talks and criticisms.

"I'm ready for bigger challenges. I know what I'm doing, I know what I'm aiming for. For me, it's all about boxing, it's all about that one blow," he said.

Vijender came out stronger after the blow in Saturday's fight, and he is eager to do so in his professional career too.

Next fight in March-April?

Vijender Singh said he hopes to get back into the ring by March or April next year, but wasn't sure whether it would be in India or abroad. "Maybe in March or April, I will have my first fight of 2018," he said. "Next year, we'll go for Commonwealth title first up, and after that maybe we'll go for the world title by the end of the year."