IMPHAL: Celebrated Indian woman boxer L Sarita Devi comfortably entered the professional ranks in the IBC Fight Night at the Khuman Lampak Stadium, here on Sunday, outpunching Zsofia Bedo of Hungary to make a winning start to her fresh innings.
The Iron Lady of Indian boxing won the bout by unanimous verdict in front of roaring fans at her hometown.
The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games Silver medallist, Sarita proved her overall superiority and made it clear that she is here to stay in the professional world.
Earlier, Pinki Jangra justified the giant killer tag in her first ever professional bout. The 26-year-old Haryana girl beat Claudia Ferenczi of Slovakia.
Pinki won the bout 40-36, 40-36, 40-36 by unanimous verdict on the score sheets of all judges.
Veteran Som Bahadur Poon knocked out his light heavy weight opponent Manop Siththiem of Thailand in mere four-and-half minutes to start his professional career.
In the Super Welter Weight IBC National Champion title bout, four-time champion Siddharth Verma successfully defended his crown with a technical knock out against fellow countryman Jaganathan.
The contest was stopped after Jaganathan ruptured his thigh muscle. He wanted to continue despite injury, but he was not allowed to continue after doctor’s advise.
Sidharth retained the belt to extended his professional record to 5-0 wins.
Pinki, who had trained hard under the US coach Joe Clough for her pro debut, was at ease as against the 77-pro bout experienced Claudia. Pinki scored a 10-9, 10-9, 10-9 verdict against Claudia in round one and maintained the same in all four rounds.
The only verdict that went against the home fighters was that of debutant Vipin Kumar who was knocked out by Mubarak Sseguya of Uganda in the third round of the first bout of the fight night.
