Naz’s new boy looks hot stuff as Indian boxers take it away
ALAN HUBBARD’S PUNCHLINES – 28.2.16
Naseem Hamed has a new kid on the boxing blocks. He’s 22-year-old Tony Bange, one of the growing band of fighters of Indian heritage set to take it away on the British fistic scene.
Welterweight Bange, from Staines, who debuts on Queensberry’s BoxNation-televised show at the Harrow Lesiure Centre on April 2, first caught Naz’s eye when the former world featherweight champion saw him working out on the pads during a training session with Hamed’s trainer cousin Anas Oweida.
He now predicts he’ll be something special, and has dubbed him TNT because of his pheneomal punching power. “
“Tony’s got the talent and he’s got the power, so all he needs now is the experience and I think we’ve got a future champion in the making,” he says.
Bange will be in good company at Harrow for fellow prodigy Sanjeev Singh Sahota, a super-lightweight from Romford and flamboyant Acton flyweight prospect Prince Patel also feature on a bill alongside Indian superstar Vijender Singh.
The venue is rather apt for Harrow School is Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, was educated.
Vijender Singh heads emerging force of Indian talent now showcasing over here.
An icon in his homeland and the 30-yar old middleweight who has blasted out his first three opponents, first has a date with Hungarian Alexander Horvath on the Flanagan-Mathews WBO world lightweight championship bill in Liverpool on March 12.
His next two fights could be a prelude to a summer homecoming ring appearance in India. Francis Warren, who, signed him fior Queensberry last October, is currently in India negotiating sponsorship deals and exploring possibilities for further BoxNation expansion in a nation were Singh has such a massive following.
His new UK career has sparked sufficient interest in India, for them to form their first-ever professional boxing governning body, with plans to launch a pro circuit.
So is India set to be the new hotbed of world boxing?
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Canelo and Khan press ahead
Canelo Alvarez and Amir Khan will go head-to-head tomorrow on the first leg of a three-city tour to promote their forthcoming catchweight scrap in Las Vegas. Golden Boy’s Oscar de la Hoya will referee the exchanges – and interpret them as Mexican mauler Canelo doesn’t speak English.
Ostensibly it is a press conference at London’s Park Plaza Hotel in Vauxhall, but as then public are also invited stand by for a bunfight.
And one date not to miss is the opening of the Muhammad Ali exhibition at the O2 on Friday.
I Am The Greatest features more than 100 artefacts, photos and memorabilia that reflect the life of the world’s most famous sporting figure.
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FIGHTING TALK
I’ve eaten hedgehog, it’s like nothing you’ve eaten before. Marinate them in honey, put them on a clay tray and bake in the over…mind you, you should hear them squeal when you close the oven door.
Tyson Fury makes a meal of it as usual, though he says the oven bit is only a joke.
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If Tyson Fury has decided that the gentle hedghehog is edible then in addition to curbing the offensive things that come out of his mouth he needs to curb what goes into it.
Elisa Allen associate director of People For The Ethical Treatment iof Animals, hits back at the world heavyweight champ’s curious choice of cuisine.
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I want people to know me like they know Floyd Mayweather. Everything is calculated.
IBF world heavyweight champion Charles Martin reckons beating Anthony Joshua would raise his profile.
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It would end Olympic boxing as we know it.
David Price the 2004 bronze medallist hits out at the idea of allowing top pros to compete in the Games.
Tomorrow: The Big Interview with Jazza Dickens – ‘he’s only a man, so Rigo holds no fears for me.’
