Neeraj Goyat retains WBC Asia welterweight title

Goyat, who came into the contest with seven wins in 11 fights, is now expected to break into the WBC world rankings, which will be a step towards getting him a shot at the world title.

WBC Asian welterweight champion Neeraj Goyat poses with Australian Challenger Ben Kite during a Press Conference in New Delhi. Neeraj retained his Asian title on Saturday.

Indian boxer Neeraj Goyat outpunched Australia’s Ben Kite to retain the WBC welterweight Asia title here today.

The 24-year-old prevailed 120-110, 119-109, 115-113 in an unanimous decision for the gruelling 12-round contest against his 26-year-old rival, who had the experience of fighting nine bouts before today.

Goyat, who came into the contest with seven wins in 11 fights, is now expected to break into the WBC world rankings, which will be a step towards getting him a shot at the world title.

“I will now aim for the world title, that would be my next target but there will some time before that materialises,” Neeraj said after the win.

In the undercard bouts, which were four-round contests, former Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Amandeep Singh defeated former Federation Cup champion Sunil Sharma in the super featherweight division (59kg) to make a winning debut in the professional circuit.

In the cruiserweight (91kg) category, multiple-time national champion Kuldeep Singh was upstaged by Geetanand Singh, while in the super welterweight (70kg) category Deepak Tanwar got the better of Dilbag Thakran.