Pralhad Panda put on a grand show of tremendous grit to emerge Indian Boxing Council Featherweight National champion and made Goa proud, after his colleague Kailas Gauns suffered a shock knockout loss to Mizoram’s powerhouse Vanlalenkawltira in the Superfly weight title bout at the International Centre Goa (ICG) lawns, Dona Paula on Saturday night.
In a historic occasion in Indian professional boxing, Susegado Strike hosted the unprecedented triple title Fight Night 4.0 with a stirring mix of high-voltage performance and raw talents announcing themselves with a promise of taking the sport to a stunning high that it deserves.
Pralhad was declared the champion at the end of 10th round in an unanimous decision, after his opponent Vinod Vanteddu from Telangana staged a valiant fight; in an epic battle of technical ability and incredible stamina displayed by both boxers.
Panda was superior of the two with a higher number of punches landing in the right places to lead the bout from get go.
Panda, who suffered a cut on his eyelid early in the high stakes bout, hailed coach Praveen Shirodkar for his contribution in the hardworking boxer’s career; and also thanked Susegado Strike for providing the professional boxing platform.
“I never got such a platform before and I thank Susegado Strike. This title is for Goa and we need to keep on winning,” said Panda, who is also the reigning IBC West Zone champion.
Earlier, the crowd-favourite Kailas was floored by Vanlalenkawltira’s high energy start and failed to come to terms with the Aizawl-based boxer’s strategy, as the experienced Goan pugilist suffered a knockout in the second round.
Vanlalenkawltira, who displayed high quality punching with great power, was overwhelmed with his own emotions. “I trained hard and I came to Goa to become champion,” he said as he controlled his tears after receiving the winner’s belt.
IBC Chief Operations Officer Vivek Raja praised Susegado Strike co-owners Prathamesh Naik, Luigson Fernandes, and Clyde Lobo for their remarkable feat of delivering 4 crowd-pulling professional boxing events in a single year.
Among the other bouts, Mohammed Dilshad overcame the challenge of Midhun A. on a technical knockout
to clinch the IBC Middleweight title; and a battle of newcomers saw Akanksha Singh pulverise Lakshmi M Gireesh in the Super Fly Women’s division (4 rounds of 2 minutes each) for an Unanimous verdict.
Asad Asif Khan beat Ashish Kumar in Super Feather (8 rounds) in Unanimous division, while crowd favourite Raj Sahiba had to work hard to get the better of Gazal Maria Mathew in the Super Welter Women’s category. The Heavyweight bout saw Arshdeep Singh Batth inflict a second-round knockout over Shijo Shaji.
Mr. Universe gold medalist bodybuilding star Vinay Kumar Mahla graced the occasion and was felicitated by Susegado Strike. He also demonstrated some upper body poses to the delight of enthusiastic spectators.
