scorecardresearch
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
Advertisement
Premium

In Kerry Hope’s corner, a man who has been waiting for Vijender Singh to show up

What makes Vijender Singh's job harder, feels Williams, is that he has had to unlearn nearly two decades of amateur boxing in a relatively short time.

Vijender Singh, Kerry Hope, Vijender Hope fight, Vijender Singh India fight, Vijender Singh India bout, Vijender India hope, Williams, Sports, Boxing Gareth Williams believes there are areas of Vijender Singh’s game that make him vulnerable.

A few months back, when Gareth Williams first learned that prizefighter Kerry Hope was being approached by Vijender Singh’s promoters for a bout in Delhi, he immediately jumped at the offer. While Hope didn’t have much of an idea about his Indian opponent, his coach Williams was very familiar with the name. “I heard who Kerry was going to be fighting and I went ‘Yup we will take the fight.’ I had already done my homework on Vijender a long time back,” says Williams, in Delhi, ahead of Saturday’s WBO Asia Pacific super middleweight title fight.

That homework had been done when Williams, now 40, was a coach with the Australian Olympic boxing unit. He had joined the team back in 2009, not long after Vijender had won the World Championship bronze medal to go along with his Olympic medal of the same colour.

ALSO READ | In battle of 10-rounds, experienced Kerry Hope takes on home favourite Vijender Singh

Advertisement

Consistent performances had taken the Indian to the No.1 on the AIBA middleweight rankings and Williams was keen to see what the Indian was all about.

“My first chance to get to see him was in Cuba where the Indian and Australian teams were to train and compete with the Cuban national team. But while the entire Indian squad was there, Vijender wasn’t. “I met (Indian national coach) Gurbax Sandhu in Cuba. I got along very well with him. I remember coach Sandhu saying that Vijender hadn’t travelled to Cuba because the tournament wasn’t an AIBA approved event,” says Williams.

Festive offer

Another opportunity would come up a couple of years later. Vijender was participating in the Arafura Games that were held in Darwin, Australia. Hoping to pit an Australian in the same category, Williams had Damien Hooper sign up for the tournament as well. Once again Vijender would be elusive.

ALSO READ | Boxing day test: Is India ready for Vijender Singh and pro boxing?

Advertisement

“Vijender was still rated one of the top amateur boxers in the world at that point of time so of course I wanted to test out Damien against him. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. Vijender lost to a Kiwi boxer (Sam Rapira) in the semifinals. It was a fight he shouldn’t have lost but that’s boxing. Damien won the final but I wanted to see him fight Vijender,” says Williams.

The Australian coach wanted to see if his plans for the Indian would have worked. For while Vijender was undoubtedly a fine amateur boxer, Williams felt there were weaknesses in his game he could have Hooper target.

“I knew that he was ranked the best amateur boxer in the world but I also knew that he hadn’t won an Olympic or World Championship gold. I watched a lot of videos of his. He was very good in some areas. He had very skilled footwork. He was good at distance and he had a solid punch. He wasn’t the best at cutting off the ring though. I also felt that if he was put under constant pressure, he will make mistakes,” he says.

Another chance

Williams would leave the Australian Olympic boxing setup later that year to concentrate on running his own boxing gym – the Boxing Shop – in Brisbane. The gym has produced and trains a number of boxers both at the Olympic and professional level. Williams’ wife Shara is still involved with the Olympic boxing program – she is travelling to the Rio Games as a coach.

Advertisement

And while Williams was content with his decision, he might have felt his chance to test Vijender had ended as well with his decision to leave the Olympic setup. Five years later though, Williams finally has his chance albeit in the professional circuit.

Williams knows that the boxer he was preparing for is not the same Hope will fight over ten rounds on Saturday. But he thinks the lessons he learned and the strategies he prepared all those years ago still hold relevance.

“I understand that Vijender the amateur is very different from Vijender the professional. But its very difficult to become a completely different boxer. There are certain things that you do well and there are certain things you don’t do well. There are some areas of your game, that fighters can change. Then there are some things fighters can’t change about themselves because they do it out of instinct. I know what Vijender’s instincts are,” he says.

What makes Vijender’s job harder feels Williams is that he has had to unlearn nearly two decades of amateur boxing in a relatively short time. ”

Advertisement

Of course Vijender doesn’t have that time on his hands. He has had to make the jump from three rounds to 10 rounds in just a year. He doesn’t have age on his side so he has to speed up his learning process. It was a brave decision for Vijender’s team to pit him against Kerry. I believe Kerry is going to shock the crowd on Saturday,” he says.

Regardless how the fight shapes up though Williams is certain of one thing. “I’ve been preparing to take on Vijender for six years but it never really happened. I’ll finally get it out of the way,” he jokes.

First uploaded on: 13-07-2016 at 01:07 IST
Latest Comment
Post Comment
Read Comments
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
close