The second round of matches in the league stage of Super Boxing League started today here at Siri Fort Squash & Badminton Stadium as the Delhi Gladiators beat a hapless UP Terminators 19-0 to secure their second win of the tournament. The win for the Delhi Gladiators was witnessed by distinguished guests of the night, Member of Parliament from Madhya Pradesh, Shri Digvijay Singh and the Chairman of All-India Anti-Terrorist Front, Shri Maninderjeet Singh Bitta, alongside Bill Dosanjh, Owner of Super Boxing League. Delhi Gladiators went into the match high on confidence as they had won their first match against Haryana Warriors on the opening night of SBL. However, it was the UP Terminators who needed the victory on the night as they had lost their first game against OPM Punjab Sultans. But it was the Delhi Gladiators who kept their run going as Rakesh Lohchab, Vanlalawmpuia, Shivani Dahiya, captain Pawan Maan, Gaganpreet Sharma and Deepak Malik all won their respective bouts. The first bout of the night saw Delhi Gladiators’ Rakesh Lohchab take on UP Terminators’ Ashish Kumar in the Feather Weight category. The Terminators’ man Kumar started the bout on the front foot as he threw some good combinations on his opponent in Round 1 & 2 while Gladiators’ Lohchab focused on keeping his guard up.
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But it was Rakesh Lohchab who got the upper hand in the latter stages of the bout as he countered Kumar well in Round 3 with slips, jabs and uppercuts. The last and final Round saw Kumar push the pace as he wanted the victory, but Rakesh Lohchab smacked the better punches on Kumar which meant that the referees decided to award Rakesh Lohchab the win by Unanimous Decision.
In the second bout of the night, it was up to UP Terminators’ Md. Mostafa to cut down the lead for his team as he faced Vanlalawmpuia from the Delhi Gladiators in the Welter Weight category. Both the boxers started Round 1 cautiously as they waited patiently to work out each other’s strategy.
However, Round 2 saw Vanlalawmpuia get the better of his opponent as he hit Mostafa with some beautiful combinations. The latter looked to have slowed down as he lost some composure.
Gladiators’ Vanlalawmpuia, on the other hand, took advantage of the slowness of his opponent and smashed some strong right punches on Terminators’ Mostafa in Round 3. The Gladiators’ man kept his shape in the fourth Round, as he struck some aggressive combinations on Mostafa to seal the victory by Unanimous Decision and extend his team’s lead to 6 points. The situation was looking bleak for the UP Terminators as the next bout was between the experienced Shivani Dahiya from the Delhi Gladiators and their own debutant boxer Lalruatfeli in the Super Fly category. The latter started the fight brightly as she impressed with some barging blows on Dahiya to get Round 1 underway.
But Delhi Gladiators’ Shivani Dahiya utilised her experience in Round 2 as she dodged Lalruatfeli’s punches to hit her on the counter. 21-year-old Dahiya was accompanied by her father during the fight, and she did not disappoint him as she came into her own in Round 3 & 4 to hit Lalruatfeli with strong jabs and combinations.
The fight was very well matched though between the two fighters, but it was Shivani who got the better hits, which resulted in her being awarded the victory by Unanimous Decision to further extend Delhi Gladiators’ lead to 9 points. It was now upto UP Terminators’ Deepak Kumar to turn around the situation for his team as Delhi seemed to be walking away with the match. But it was a very difficult task for the Terminators’ man as Delhi Gladiators’ captain Pawan Maan was the opponent who Deepak had to face in the Middle Weight category.
The Gladiators’ skipper proved why he is so dangerous in such matches as he started Round 1 with a flurry of punches on Kumar to put him on the defensive. Round 2 saw a similar story as Terminators’ Kumar seemed to have slowed down as a result of getting hit and Gladiators’ Maan made the most of it to hit him with some clean and strong combinations. It was a strange bout as Kumar also got into his own in Round 3 to give Maan some competition, therefore Round 4 became important for both the boxers.
Kumar got the better hits in the last Round but it proved to be too little, too late for the Terminators’ boxer as Pawan Maan was awarded the victory by Unanimous Decision which meant that the Gladiators led 12-0.
Delhi Gladiators seemed to have secured the victory on the night as it looked improbable for the UP Terminators to win the next two bouts through Knock Out, which would only just have put the two teams level on points. The next bout was between Gaganpreet Sharma of the Delhi Gladiators and Sunil Olla of the UP Terminators in the Super Middle Weight category.
The latter started the first Round with some strong punches on Sharma but the Delhi boxer turned it around in Round 2 as he knocked the composure out of Olla with some amazing combinations. Sharma looked to have found the mojo on the night as he took advantage of Olla’s weakness and hit him until the referee had to call off the bout by awarding a Technical Knock Out to Gaganpreet Sharma of the Delhi Gladiators.
The win meant that the Gladiators had made sure of the victory as they led 16-0 on the night with one bout to go. The last bout of the night was between Delhi Gladiators’ Deepak Malik and UP Terminators’ Naveen Parashar in the Heavy Weight category. The two boxers started the first Round slowly as they looked to maintain their shape. Round 2 saw a similar story as they kept their guard up but it was Gladiators’ Malik who started to break the defense of Parashar.
But the latter was not too far behind in his hits as he also hit Malik on the counter. Round 3 saw Malik take the most points and his accurate punching saw him take the lead. In the last Round between the two boxers, it all came down to who could Hit Harder to secure a win for their team. Gladiators’ Malik kept the momentum going for his team as he won the bout by Unanimous Decision to give his side an impressive 19-0 win.
The fights in Super Boxing League will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and will be telecast live on SONY ESPN and SONY ESPN HD at the prime time slot of 7:00 - 9:30 PM. The fights will also be live streamed on SPN’s digital platform SONY LIV.
