It is three in the afternoon. Journalists and photographers, along with a select few gym members, are chitchatting and eagerly waiting for Vijender Singh to arrive for a training session at a gymnasium here on Wednesday.
About 15 minutes thereafter, the voices go silent as Vijender makes his way in. Not the greatest of the reception ensues, surprisingly. Instead, a quiet one. Perhaps, everyone is in awe of the Indian boxing trailblazer, and maybe his aura made them speechless.
Undeterred, Vijender sits on the bench, puts his boxing shoes on, and pulls out the skipping rope from his kit bag. The warm up begins. He tries quite a few subsets with the jump rope, and as he does that, the music in the gym goes on.
'Yeah', he utters, with an expression similar to that of a kid who just got the toy he/she always wanted. Mischievous, indeed. But, Vijender is as confident for Saturday's double title fight against China's Zulpikar Maimaitiali.
"Totally confident," he says when asked how he feels heading into the bout, the winner of which will walk away with two titles — the WBO Asia Pacific and the WBO Oriental Super Middleweight belts.
Indeed, the confidence graces his face throughout the training session. Vijender demonstrates some shadow-boxing. He, then, moves to a punching bag, checks it with some left jabs before unleashing his feared right hook, leaving the spectators amused with his brute power.
Punching bag done, it's time for Vijender to pummel the focus mitt. His trainer Beard puts one on as the former demonstrates all the strikes in his arsenal; hooks and cross follow parries and blocks.
However, the focus soon shifts to crosscounter as Beard advises Vijender to make the most of openings that may result out of his opponent's jabs. He further advises him to look for body shots. Vijender, on his part, appears to be a keen listener.
The training session lasts for good 20 minutes. However, that's not it. A quick sip of energy drink for Vijender, and Beard calls him for a conversation. Vijender listens carefully, in a way even a studious student would be envy of.
But, what did Beard have to say? "I just told him to keep his mind set, relax and calm. It's all about being relaxed in the good frame of mind, his body is in great shape and just make sure he is not doing anything crazy.
"So, it's all about his mental preparations now, physically he is doing perfect," he says.
The training session indeed conveyed the same.
Talking about his preparations for the bout, Vijender says: "The preparations are going really well. My team, my coaches are here with me, and so far everything has been all right.
"I landed in Mumbai today (Wednesday). My sparring fighter will land here today (Wednesday) or tomorrow (Thursday)."
But his family won't be around to cheer for him. "My wife is not into boxing, she is very much into pooja-paath," he adds with a chuckle. And my boy is celebrating his birthday tomorrow (Thursday)."
