In seventh heaven: Vijender Singh smashes Kerry's 'Hope' to clinch WBO Asia Pacific super middleweight title
Coverage of WBO Asia Pacific super middleweight title bout between Vijender Singh and Kerry Hope.
Vijender Singh is the new Asia Pacific super middleweight champion. His pro boxing record extends to 7-0
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“Thank you India. I didn’t expect it to go to ten rounds. We have been working hard for this. Finally, we did it and we will work to improve my ranking now," says Vijender.
Vijender wins the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title with a score of 98-92, 98-92 and 100-90
Referee's time to declare Vijender the winner. Star-studded crowd stands up in appreciation.
The host announces the score and it's Vijender who has triumphed by a unanimous decision of the judges
The referee hasn't yet declared the winner but the arena knows that it's the Indian who has punched his way to glory
Vijender Singh has done it! He has won the bout against Hope.
Vijender stays calm as he knows that he is well ahead of Hope and lets the Australian do all the attacking
Hope upper-cuts one but misses
Hope manages to land one on the face of Vijender first up
It's the 10th and ultimate round
The round ends with the two wrestlers coming together on a couple of occasions. Last round beckons
Now the India smashes Hope, the Australian retaliates but Vijender ducks to safety
Vijender hasn't fought for so long in his pro boxing career but he looks more than charged up to fight for some more rounds
But it's still not over as Round 9 is underway
Vijender rules round 8
Round 8 starts
Hope holds his own trying to get close to Vijender and that's the end of the round
Vijender totally dominates Hope in this round and at the end of it ,he almost knocked his opponent down but Hope manages to stay on his feet
It's round 7
This time Vijender corners Hope and lands another punch on his opponent
Again Hope messes up with his guard and allows Vijender to land a punch on his face
Sixth round starts
Vijender gets on top of Hope again before the bell rings for the fifth round. It looks like Hope has a cut under his right eye.
Vijender immediately slams one into Hope, the Australian was caught unawares
Fifth round is underway
Fourth round ends
Hope is throwing some aggressive punches but till now Vijender hasn't dropped his guard.
Vijender pins Hope to a corner but loses his footing for the second time in the match
Fourth round starts
Hope, for the first time looked a little confident aa Vijender fails to get enough from this round
Hope finding it difficult to breach Vijender's defence, the crowd is right behind the Indian
Third round starts
Vijender lands a couple of power packed punches on Hope to end round two
Vijender misses a punch and falls on the ground but gets up immediately
Second round is underway
And that's the end of the first round
Both the boxers holding their guard up, trying to block anything that comes their way but Vijender breaches Hope's defence to land a punch on his face
The bell rings and they are off.
Time for the national anthem of Australia, followed by India's
Vijender Singh draped in an Indian tri-coloured gown marches towards the ring. The capacity crowd goes crazy.
Kerry Hope enters the arena, looking confident, exhibiting some shadow punches.
Vijender Singh is getting ready for the fight as his trainers tape his hand
Virender Sehwag says he is pretty sure that Vijender Singh will win this bout via a knock out just like his previous six pro boxing encounters
It's time for the fight of the night. It's Vijender Singh versus Kerry Hope.
Siddharth Verma powers over Dilbagh Thakran (80-73, 79-73, 77-75โ) in an eight-round battle
Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi is jam packed. Everyone waiting for the mega fight between Vijender Singh and kerry Hope
Now it's time for Dilbagh Thakran versus Siddharth Verma
Nengneihat beats Boichong
Next up is the women's encounter between Boichong and Nengneihat. They are from Mary Kom's academy.
Sanjeev Sahota wins his bout against Vikas Lohan 40-37, 40-36, 40-37โ
Next one is an all Indian fight between Vikas Lohan and Sanjeev Sahota
Kuldeep Dhanda of India beats Vichayan Khamon of Thailand 60-52, 60-55, 60-53 in the first encounter of the evening.
Vijender Singh's fight with Kerry Hope will be the last action of the night.
The fight night will feature seven other undercard bouts, comprising boxers from the Indian Boxing Council's stable and two Thai invites.
Here are the first six bouts of Vijender's pro boxing career.