![\"Vijender](\"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Vijender-Singh-Pro.jpg\")
New Delhi: Vijender Singh will face the most experienced and battle-hardened opponent of his professional career when he defends his WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title against Francis Cheka here on Saturday.<\/p>\nNew Delhi: Vijender Singh will face the most experienced and battle-hardened opponent of his professional career when he defends his WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title against Francis Cheka here on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Vijender, who defeated Australian Kerry Hope in a gruelling 10-round contest in front of his home crowd at Thyagraj Stadium to take his first professional title here in July, has not faced much of a challenge in the seven pro bouts he has fought so far.<\/p>\n
The bout against Cheka, however, is expected to be an altogether different matter.<\/p>\n
The Tanzanian, reigning World Boxing Federation (WBF) Super Middleweight champion, is a veteran at the professional level, having won 32 of his 43 bouts. Seventeen of those wins have come by knockout.<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old is also the current African champion in the International Boxing Federation (IBF) Super Middleweight division.<\/p>\n
Having made his debut as a 17-year-old in the year 2000, Cheka has over 16 years of experience in professional boxing compared to just six months for Vijender.<\/p>\n
Vijender however, enjoys the height advantage over the 5’10” African boxer.<\/p>\n
At the pre-fight weigh-in on Friday, Vijender was an exact 76 kilograms while Cheka registered 74.7.<\/p>\n
Vijender has created several historic milestones for Indian boxing.<\/p>\n
The Haryana lad became the first Indian boxer to clinch an Olympic medal when he took bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the first to win a professional title.<\/p>\n
He will get the chance to create another milestone on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n
The evening will also feature five undercard bouts featuring upcoming Indian professional boxers.<\/p>\n
In the Welterweight (67kg) division, Pardeep Kharera will take on Scott Edwards of Australia while Deepak Tanwar will meet Indonesia’s Sutriyono Bara Boys.<\/p>\n
In the Lightweight (61kg) category, Kuldeep Dhanda will fight Egy Rozten of Indonesia and Rajesh Kumar will take on Ugandan pugilist Mubaraka Sseguya.<\/p>\n
Dharmender Grewal will challenge Abasi Kyobe of Uganda in the Cruiserweight (95kg) category.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi: Vijender Singh will face the most experienced and battle-hardened opponent of his professional career when he defends his WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title against Francis Cheka here on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Vijender, who defeated Australian Kerry Hope in a gruelling 10-round contest in front of his home crowd at Thyagraj Stadium to take his first professional title here in July, has not faced much of a challenge in the seven pro bouts he has fought so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[5898,19408,18899,466,19409,19222,12791,19047,822,16661],"class_list":["post-30741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxing-update","tag-francis-cheka","tag-indian-sports-news","tag-latest-boxing-score","tag-latest-sports-update","tag-sports-news","tag-sports-update","tag-vijender-singh","tag-wbo-asia-pacific-super-middleweight-title"],"yoast_head":"\n