Pakistani boxer Waseem’s world title fight postponed

The WBF bantamweight world title fight which was scheduled to be held between Pakistan’s premier professional fighter Mohammad Waseem and South Africa’s Sabelo Cebekhulu, on October 4 in Malta, has been postponed.

Waseem now will compete in a ranking fight at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Malta on Friday (tomorrow) against Jana Memisishi of Georgia. The fight will start at around 10 PM (PST) tomorrow night.

Waseem confirmed it to Nukta from Malta that his fight with Sabelo has been postponed.

“I have not yet met my promoter and the things will become clear in few hours. But it is confirmed that I am not going to play world title fight," Waseem said.

The WBF has also mentioned on its website that Sabelo-Waseem fight is yet to be announced.

On Friday in Malta, Renke Wittke of Germany will face Juan Camilo Novoa of Colombia in the vacant Inter-Continental heavyweight title fight while Andrei Cristian Florian of Romania will meet Jose Miguel Torres of Colombia in the international light heavyweight title fight.

Waseem's training affected

The postponement of the major fight has come because of visa issues which Waseem faced that badly affected his training for the major show. Waseem got Europe visa only a few days ago and he had to rush to Liverpool where he trained for a few days without his coach Danny Vaughn, who is nursing his ailing mother.

Nukta understands that Waseem, flew to Italy last Tuesday and then went to Malta, and was in sheer need of training. He was seen struggling for getting Schengen visa which he got after a lot of efforts.

In Liverpool too he did not get sparring but he focused on his fitness.

Waseem, the three-time WBC world silver flyweight champion, last played a fight way back in March 2022 when he lost to England’s Sunny Edwards in the IBF flyweight world title fight in Dubai.

At that time, he was playing under MTK Global which latter ceased its operations.

Waseem then entered into a contract with Dubai-based Disrupt Promotions but the partnership also did not last for long. Waseem then signed a deal with Vaughn Group Malta for a period of one year in June this year.

Following a solid amateur career, which lasted for more than a decade, Waseem turned pro in 2015 when he was taken under its wings by Korea-based AK Promotions. And it was under that unit which enabled Waseem to become WBC world silver flyweight champion in only his fourth fight which is a rare case. Waseem then went on to defend it twice. Under AK Promotions Waseem would usually train in Las Vegas, US, under Jeff Mayweather.