Highlights Vijender Singh vs Ernest Amuzu, Rajasthan Rumble: Vijender retains titles

VIJENDER SINGH WINS! Judges rule that 100-90, 100-90, 100-90 in Vijender Singh’s favour. It’s a unanimous points decision. Not unexpected.

10-0! Vijender Singh beats Ernest Umuzu by unanimous decision and defends his WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental titles

That’s that then. Another strong round from Vijender. Got in some solid punches on the face of Amuzu, and really the African has done well to stay on his feet throughout the fight. The judges will pronounce the verdict in a few minutes, but anyone who watched this knows where this is going.

The tenth round is over. Throughout the bout, Vijender dominated and it seems like nothing can keep him away from his tenth win.

Amuzu seems like he wants to attack, but the Indian’s reach with his left hand is forcing him to keep his distance. Suddenly, Viju has Amuzu on the ropes before he unleashes a couple of crisp blows to the face of Amuzu.

Vijender still in the lead but Amuzu’s record of never being knocked out is safe as of now. He is completely on the back foot but is putting up a fight. The final round is about to start.

The eighth round too pretty much went Vijender’s way. By now the credit should go to Amuzu for taking the punishment while not collapsing on the canvas.

Well, well Vijender is asking all the quesitons and Amuzu doesn’t seem to have any answers. Despite taking all the blows, he is standing on his feet after the eighth round.

Barely a clean punch in the seventh round until the last 30 seconds when Vijender explodes, landing sweet right hands on his cornered opponent. With judges awarding points for the number of punches landed, this is more or less a fight that Vijender will win. Unless Amuzu can do what has not been done in Vijender’s professional career: knocking the Indian out.

Round 7: Lovely exhibition of boxing on display. Vijender seems to be in the zone, Amuzu is losing the plot now.

Amuzu is being pummeled here now. Jabs and upper cuts rain on him as Vijender is finding his rhythm. Amuzu swings around wildly but it is safe to assume that at least the sixth round is safely going in Viju’s favour. That round ended with a lethal left jab that rocked back Amuzu’s head. There can be only one way this bout is heading after six rounds.

Vijender threw in a flurry punches and Amuzu seemed to have no answer in the sixth round. The Ghanaian is clearly struggling.

FINALLY! Some lethal right hands from Vijender. First an upper cut, then a right hook to his rival’s face. Then there’s a couple of left jabs to the body as the Ghanaian is pinned on the ropes. There was an accidental headbutt to Vijender, which may have left a cut. But both boxers move on without too much drama. Vijender should be ahead in this bout based on what’s transpired in the first five rounds in Jaipur.

The fifth round is over. Vijender landed two heavy right hand punches but Amuzu was undeterred. Having said that, the Indian is in total control.

Absolutely nothing happened in that round as Amuzu seems content to play punching bag. Where’s the footwork from both the boxers? They’re moving around at a leisurely canter in the ring.

Vijender totally dominated the fourth round. It seems like Vijender is leading on points currently.

Vijender trying desperately to break down Amuzu’s defence. He tried a couple of gut punches to get the Ghanaian to lower his guard, but Amuzu is having none of that.

The fight is becoming more intense. Both the boxers are putting in their best efforts. But Vijender’s defence stood out in the third round.

Vijender’s lethal right hand is now making its mark felt. First there’s an upper cut that should have knocked Amuzu’s teeth out and then in the last 30 seconds his jab finding its way through Amuzu’s defence. Amuzu gesturing that he’s not hurt. But Vijender definitely had a better round there. And he’s finally finding his fire in his punches.

Much better from Vijender Singh in the second round.

Very predictably, the first round was cagey with both boxers preferring to size each other up rather that launching all out attacks. But there were a couple of moments which stood out, Amuzu’s left jab found a generous amount of Viju’s face at the start, while the Indian returned the favour with a left jab of this own at the end. The bout ends with Amuzu flashing a smile at Vijender.

Round 1 is over. Ernest began with a slew of punches but Vijender held his nerves and responded well.

The long-awaited bout between India’s Vijender Singh and Ghana’s Ernest Amuzu is underway.

Ernest Amuzu has never been knocked out. He has a record of 23-2.

Time for the national anthems. God Bless Our Homeland Ghana will be followed by Jana Gana Mana.

Vijender Singh has been unbeaten in his last nine professional bouts. This is his tenth. Will he maintain his unbeaten record? Well, we will find out soon. He is strolling out amidst huge cheers.

Ernest Amuzu from Ghana will walk out first.

Since 2015, which was when Vijender turned pro, the Indian has been in nine fights. His opponent Amuzu has been in just over half of that: five.

This mismatch, at least on paper, lent an almost farcical tone to the pre-match trash talking from the boxer from Africa. Amuzu had claimed he would “smash him to the body to loosen him up and then knock him out with a right hand”. The boxer added: “I know that Vijender is a hero there. But I am going to knock your hero out. He doesn’t belong in a boxing ring with me. I am insulted that he thinks he can just walk over me and beat me easily.”

Amuzu had told Vijender to “stick to acting”. 

All of that is good for the headlines, but in a few minutes we’ll see how much substance there is in those fists.

The long-awaited bout between India’s Vijender Singh and Ghana’s Ernest Amuzu is about to start.

Pardeep Kharera declared the winner of the Welterweight bout against Nikhil Sharma by unanimous decision.  He dominated in the first three rounds and after that it became very difficult for Sharma to recover.

Just over two years after he turned pro, the fight against Ernest Amuzu will represent Vijender Singh’s chance to put his win record in double figures. It has already been pointed out that this is a mismatch from the time the bout was set up. After all, Vijender is not just a bronze medallist at the Beijing Olympics, he also is the reigning WBO Oriental Super Middleweight and WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight champion. Amuzu is… well… ranked 256 in the world, not to mention seventh in Ghana. Even more interestingly, the Ghanian has only fought outside his homeland once — a bout in Frankfurt against Kavin Gebhard, which he lost.

We are a few minutes away from the most exciting bout of the night.

The welterweight bout between Pardeep Kharera and Nikhil Sharma is underway. This is the final match before Vijender’s fight. This is a six-round bout and its weight category is 66.7 kg.

Amandeep Singh vs Manoj Kumar: 

A close fight between Amandeep Singh and Manoj Kumar. But eventually it is Amandeep who edges Manoj on points. Two judges had given the same points and Amandeep trumped his opponent due to the points awarded by the the third judge.

Hello and welcome to Firstpost’s coverage of the Rajasthan Rumble. The most anticipated bout is, as expected, between Vijender Singh and Ernest Amuzu, which will be the last fight of the night.