Indonesia debut for boxer Rafi
He took up boxing four years ago to keep in shape, and Rafi Majid never expected anything more.
But the 36-year-old, who is the owner of The Dive Company, will make his professional debut this evening against Indonesian Bub Kalbar in the cruiserweight division of the Air Force Boxing Championships at the GOR Pangsuma Sports Complex in Pontianak, Indonesia.
"At first, I took up boxing for the fun of it and mainly wanted to lose weight, so I joined Juggernaut as I heard that they have a very good boxing programme," Rafi told The New Paper yesterday.
"I really enjoyed it and just wanted to see how far I could go."
Nicknamed The Ruffian, Rafi has been a member of the Juggernaut Fight Club since 2012, and won the Singapore Fighting Championships' (SFC) Amateur Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) middleweight title against fellow Singaporean Christian Bouverat at the SFC 2 Unfinished Business on Feb 20.
FAITH
While Rafi has just five fights under his belt, his coach Arvind Lalwani is confident of his protege's ability.
"He has always been a boxer and I had been planning to get him to go pro for a couple of months and, through my contacts, I got him the fight," said Lalwani, who is also the director of Juggernaut.
"Rafi is a tough guy and he has good power in his punches. He just needs to be more confident."
Rafi's bout is part of a line-up of fights, headlined by the International Boxing Federation Junior Youth title bout between Iwan Zoda and Szilveszter Kanalas.
The Singaporean has been training hard for the past month and is positive about his chances.
He said: "I've been training very hard for this and I had a few injuries close to the fight, but I think when I am focused and I trust in my training, I can do it."
Rafi's opponent may have more experience than him, with two professional bouts, but Lalwani believes that will count for little this evening.
"Anything can happen in the fight; even though his opponent is more experienced, I still think he has a chance," said Lalwani.
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