The Top Indian Boxers of All Time
There have been many boxers in India who performed on the global stage. In fact, since as early as 1948, boxers have been a regular feature at the Olympics. However, the sport picked up its pace in the 21st century which saw two Indian boxers winning Olympic medals. While these two medals are in isolation, they have inspired many youngsters across the nation to pick up and explore the sport of boxing.
In fact, with India’s growing population of over one billion people and a growing interest in boxing as a sport, the country could become a major market for the sport, claims WBC Boxing. The entity singles out Arif Khan, the founder of The Punch Boxing, as the man who is leading the way in India’s boxing interest. While boxing is a sport that is heavily watched on television, it is also a popular sport to bet on at some of the best betting sites in India like those found at sportsbetting24.in.
Let us go back in history and that a look at the top five Indian boxers of all time.
Mary Kom
Mary Kom is the only female boxer to win the boxing world championship six times. She is also the only female boxer to have 8 championship medals up her sleeve. At the Olympics, during the women’s boxing debut, Mary Kom won a bronze medal in the flyweight category at the 2012 London Olympics. She has bee honoured with a number of awards including the Padma Vibushan, Pajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, and Arjuna award. Mary also qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, and she is set out to do great things for boxing and India.
Hawa Singh
Hawa Singh dominated the heavyweight category in boxing in the 1960s. He won consecutive Asian games and he also won successive National championships from 1962. After his retirement from boxing, he took up coaching in boxing and coached many boxers to success, including the 2008 Olympic medalist Vijender Singh. Singh was awarded the Dronacharya award in 1999 to honour his excellent coaching.
Vijender Singh
Vijender Singh became the first Indian male boxer to win an Olympic medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He also won a bronze medal at World Championship, three commonwealth games medals and two Asian games medals. He also represented India in three Olympics: Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008, and London in 2012. Singh turned professional in June 2015, and he signed a multi-year agreement. Up until 2021, Singh has a streak of 12 wins in professional boxing.
Dingko Singh
Dingko Singh is considered to be one the finest boxers that India has ever seen. He represented the country at the 1998 Asian Games and at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He won a gold medal at the Asian games, and he was also awarded the Arjuna award in the same year for his consistent performance.
Sarita Devi
Sarita Devi is a boxer from Manipur and a world champion in the lightweight category. She won three world championship medals and eight Asian championship medals. Although she had a great boxing career, she never represented India at the Olympics. She entered the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea and qualified for the semi-finals to face Park Ji-Na. However, she was handed a defeat by the judges which was incredibly controversial.