Amit Panghal caused one of the biggest upsets ever by an Indian boxer when he beat Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov to win the 49kg Asian Games crown in Jakarta.
This was a result of thorough planning and proper execution. “The biggest plus about Amit is that he listens to the inputs from the seconds and coaching staff and implements it inside the ring,” C.A. Kuttappa, one of the assistant coaches working with the National side, told Sportstar following Amit's sensational victory on Saturday.
READ| Amit claims India’s only boxing gold at 18th Asiad
“Amit is not like (well-known light flyweight boxers) Devendro (Singh) and Suranjoy (Singh). He is careful of his strengths and weaknesses. The best thing about him is he hits the opponent without getting hit,” said Kuttappa.
The Indian camp had a fool-proof plan in place before fielding Amit in the gold medal match against the two-time Asian champion.
“Amit had lost to Dusmatov in the 2017 World championships quarterfinals last year. We watched that video, previous bouts of the Uzbek here and other events and prepared a plan – of not getting into his strong areas, including his deadly right hook.
“Thankfully, Amit did that well in the first and third rounds. The second round got a bit close though. Amit is very good at attacking and stepping back to safety.”
Kuttappa said Amit, who has made rapid improvements in the last two years, showed his best performance at the Asiad. “The gold medal match was good, but for me, his first bout against Mongolian Kharkhuu Enkhmandakh was even better. That was the best bout of his life.”
Kuttappa agreed that the 22-year-old is a work in progress. “Amit has to develop a lot, especially fine-tune his attack. He is mentally strong and has the potential to land even an Olympic medal,” said the coach.
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