Pakistani boxer Muhammad Waseem has continued training hard for his cheduled showdown with South Africa’s Moruti Mthalane for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight world title bout on July 15 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The contest will be featured as part of the undercard to the welterweight world title showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Lucas Matthysse.
Waseem who is Pakistan’s only World Boxing Council (WBC) title winner, has been undefeated in eight professional starts.
On the other hand, his opponent Mthalane has won 35 of his 37 career fights.
Waseem, who is training nowadays in Las Vegas currently training under Vegas-based trainer Jeff Mayweather, who is the uncle of five division world champion Floyd Mayweather. Waseem has said that he is honoured to be waving the Pakistani flag once again.
“This is an important fight for me and I hope that the nation prays for my win.”
On July 17, 2016, Waseem became the first Pakistan boxer to have clinched the WBA world silver belt by beating Jether Oliva of Philippines in Seoul.
It was a rare feat from the fighter as he lifted the title in only his fourth fight of his career. Waseem became the world’s top-ranked boxer as per rankings released by the WBC for the month of June 2017. He is the first Pakistan boxer to be listed as the number-one boxer in the flyweight category.
On November 27, 2016, he successfully defended his crown by upstaging the dangerous Giemel Magramo of the Philippines, also in South Korea, after a tough twelve round battle.
The Quetta based boxer has other accolades, include bronze medals at the 2014 Asian Games and 2010 Commonwealth Games, plus a silver in Glasgow at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
