Ace Pakistani boxer Waseem set to defend his WBA bantamweight world title in Lahore

Pakistan’s seasoned professional boxer Mohammad Waseem continues to deliver solid entertainment for his fans as he is set to defend his WBA bantamweight world title this November in Lahore.

According to sources, the fight is expected to take place in the third week of November in the Punjab capital.

This will mark the second time Waseem will fight professionally in Lahore. He last competed in the city in December 2020 when he defeated Jeny Boy Boca of the Philippines in a ranking bout.

In May this year Waseem claimed the WBA world title in Quetta after a sensational victory over Venezuela’s Winston Orono. It was the biggest achievement of his professional career as he knocked out Orono in the ninth round of a tough contest that pulled a large crowd.

Waseem’s full team, including his coach Danny Vaughn, is due to arrive in Lahore later this week. They will stay in the city for four days to finalize preparations for what could be a major event.

Waseem has fought 16 professional bouts so far, winning 14, ten of them by knockout. His only two losses came in world title fights against South Africa’s Moruti Mthalane and England’s Sunny Edwards.

Waseem is currently training in Islamabad focusing on maintaining his fitness ahead of the upcoming fight. He is expected to begin full training in September.

“He is currently focusing on running and other exercises to keep himself in shape. For the world title fight he will begin proper training in September,” a source close to Waseem told Nukta.

“He will train in Liverpool and the Dominican Republic with the latter playing a major role as his primary training base,” the source added.

Waseem turned professional in 2015 following a decade-long amateur career, just months after winning a bronze medal for Pakistan at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

In 2016 he made headlines by winning the WBC flyweight world silver title in only his fourth professional bout. Later that year he successfully defended the title with an impressive win over the dangerous Giemel Magramo of the Philippines.

In July 2018 Waseem got a golden opportunity to win the IBF world title in Kuala Lumpur but narrowly lost to Moruti Mthalane despite dominating much of the bout in front of a massive crowd.

In March 2022 he again fell short in an IBF world title fight, this time against England’s Sunny Edwards after a controversial decision.

Waseem also held the WBC No 1 ranking for quite some period, a significant achievement for the Quetta-born fighter.

Unfortunately, several years of his career were disrupted due to visa issues. On one occasion a scheduled world title fight in Dubai was canceled when the UAE denied him a visa after an error was found in his application.

He also once was refused visa of a Central Asian country when he was committed to go there for training. Waseem also a few years ago appealed to the PTI government to grant him a diplomatic passport but his request fell on deaf ears.