Chennai's Sabari J. became the inaugural winner of the World Boxing Council's (WBC) India welterweight title, defeating the more experienced Akashdeep Singh of Chandigarh in an eight-round bout in Hyderabad.
Sabari prevailed in a majority decision of 76-76, 79-73 and 79-73 in the professional event 'Hell's Bay', promoted by Raja Prashanth Singh of TIAR (The Indian Art Revolution) at the Gachibowli Stadium late last night.
In the WBC Asia silver lightweight title bout, Karthik Satish Kumar defeated Hero Tito of Indonesia in a hard-fought eight-round encounter.
Kumar won a unanimous decision of 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73.
Now that Sabari has won the inaugural India title, he has to defend it at regular intervals against other ranked boxers from India.
The 24-year-old had four wins and one loss in his previous fights.
He made his professional boxing debut in January last year, just two months prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The 27-year-old Akashdeep had come into the fight with a record of eight wins and one loss in the past three years.
Karthik is currently ranked No 4 in the WBC India Rankings in the lightweight division behind Sachin Dekwal, Mahesh and Digari Mahesh.
His professional record now stands at an impressive 8-0 and the latest win will help him take a huge leap in the WBC India rankings in the coming months.
The organisers of the event stated that over 1,000 spectators attended the fight night.