Hard hitting Lautoka slugger Kunal Nair is training hard for the biggest fight in his boxing career.

This Saturday, he takes on Fiji middleweight champion, Opeti Tagi, in a six-round contest fight at Prince Charles Park, Nadi.

“I’ve never trained so hard for this fight,” Nair told SUNsports yesterday.

“This is the first fight where I’ve put everything into my preparation as I will try to come away with a win.”

Nair indicated that he has been training with veteran boxer Wahid Khan and is confident of a positive outcome.

Promoter Mohammed Shane Riaz said, everything is coming together for the fight.

“This is my first promotion and I’m glad to be giving a lot of our upcoming boxers the opportunity to make their mark in the sport,” he said.

Trainer Marika Yalimaiwai has called on boxing followers to support Saturday’s programme.

“It’s great to see some of our veteran boxers taking on younger opponents. Most of these young boxers who are fighting on Saturday, have got good amateur boxing records. So being there to support them is the way to go for boxing.”

ON A MISSION

Veteran boxer Wahid Khan is a man on a mission. Speaking to SUNsports yesterday, Khan says, he needs to beat young Tomasi Gaunavou of Suva on Saturday in order to keep alive his chances of fighting Siliveni Nawai again.

“I’ve been training for the past months and my target is for a return fight with Nawai,” he said.

The first fight ended controversially after Nawai allegedly punched Khan while he was still in his corner.

Khan indicated that he is grateful of the support by Singh’s Rentals and Body Academy for this most important fight.

“I’ve never seen Tomasi fight but he is going to be a stepping stone to bigger fights,” he added.

STAY UNBEATEN

Young bantamweight boxer Sachin Mudaliar will be out to keep his professional record intact. Speaking to SUNsports yesterday, the former Fijian amateur boxing rep said, he is ready to take on Azmat Mohammed in their four-round fight.

“I won my first professional fight against Ajmat Manna so I need to win this one again and qualify for a title fight,” he said.

Mudaliar’s older brothers, Krishna holds the Fijian featherweight title while Krishneel is the country’s bantamweight champion. These fights are undercards to the 10-round welterweight clash between upcoming boxer Sebastian Singh and Daniel Maxwell of New Zealand.

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