PANAJI (GOA)

Professional boxing comes to Goa for the first time this Republic Day with four bouts ​ at Marbela beach resort on January 26. Produced by BoxSingh Promotions and sanctioned by the South Asia Boxing Association (SABA) under license by WBC Asia. The main event features heavyweight Jagdeep “the Bullet” Singh against Tanzania’s Karama Nyilawila in a 6-round contest as part of the first annual Clean Fight Carnival.

​“SABA is excited to bring pro boxing to India’s most popular tourism destination,” said SABA chief executive officer Jason Overdorf. He further added – “We believe the sport of boxing has tremendous potential in India and the first step to realizing that potential is giving exposure to young, hungry fighters and taking events into new markets.”

​Co-features will see Shivani Singh square off against Thailand’s Anchalee Mankong in a four-round women’s bantamweight division (53.5 kg) match, Gaganpreet Sharma battle Sandeep Nain in a four-round super middleweight (76 kg) bout and Diksha and Muskan duke it out over four rounds in the women’s super-bantamweight (55 kg) class.

​The Clean Fight Carnival will also see boxers and well-wishers from the surrounding area lead a beach clean-up the day after the festivities in the spirit of giving back to the community and supporting the government’s Swachh Bharat campaign.

​“Boxing on the beach is a tradition in California and Mexico – which have given rise to some of the sport’s greatest champions. With Clean Fight Carnivals we are going to rewrite the constitution of the boxing world!” said BoxSingh promoter – Munish Makhija.

 “We’re bringing that excitement to India for the first time with an event that will include a fashion show, music, drinks and dancing – all the stuff that’s made Goa famous around the world,” said Ritwik Bhattacharya – Co-founder, BoxSingh.