Indian star Vijender Singh will defend his WBO super middleweight Asia Pacific title against former world and current intercontinental champion Francis Cheka in New Delhi on December 17. The fight will take place at the Thyagaraj Stadium, live and exclusive in the UK on BoxNation. 

Cheka, who is from Tanzania, is a veteran of 43 fights with 32 wins, including 17 knockouts. He has fought against top talent in the past, including former WBA world champion Fedor Chudinov (Russia) and former WBC international middleweight champion Matthew Macklin.

Cheka will be Vijender's most experienced opponent to date -- he has 300 rounds of boxing under his belt over a 16-year career compared with the Indian's 27. In February, he won the intercontinental super middleweight championship title against Serbia's Geard Ajetovic.

Vijender is undefeated in his seven-fight career so far. He had become the WBO super middleweight Asia Pacific champion after defeating Australia's Kerry Hope in New Delhi in July.

About the fight, Vijender said: "Cheka is a highly experienced boxer, he has many bouts under his belt, but none of this demotivates me. I'm training harder to match up to his level and hoping for another win..."

" I'm confident of my win; I feel my stance is becoming better with every training session that I'm undergoing. My trainer also feels that my punches are stronger than before and he has also put me under high-intensity training."

Cheka was more aggressive with his words.

"I'm ready to give this kid a lesson of boxing... ," he said. "I've heard a lot about this Indian boxer and there's a lot of hype around him. I just can't wait to be the one to put him in his place."

"I know he trains in Manchester, UK, but it'll be great fun to beat [the] Indian lad in his own country and take away his title. If you see my record, I've a total of 17 knockouts, I've played way more rounds than he has. I'm sure I'll be able to knock him out in the first round itself."