New Delhi: World Championships (2023) bronze medal-winning boxer and Paris Olympian Nishant Dev has decided to turn professional. The 24-year-old has signed up with promoter Matchroom Boxing and is scheduled to debut at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on January 25 as an undercard to the super middleweight bout between Steve Nelson and Diego Pacheco.
Dev, who lost his close 71kg quarter-final bout to the experienced Marco Alonso Verde Alvarez of Mexico at the Paris Olympics, said on Instagram: “My goal is to become India’s first-ever world professional boxing champion and I know I have a whole nation behind me to help me achieve this.”
“I enjoyed my time as an amateur boxer and competed at the very highest level in the Olympics and winning a World Championship medal. But now, I’m ready for this new chapter in my career. The journey to the World Championship starts in Las Vegas on January 25th!”
The twice national champion is being trained by former professional boxer Ronald Simms in Las Vegas. Dev’s opponent for his first pro bout is yet to be announced.
The foray of Indian boxers into professional ranks is not new, although it is a bit surprising that Dev, who is yet to make a name for himself by winning a major event, has made this move. Olympics bronze medallist Vijender Singh, Mandeep Jangra, and Neeraj Goyat took that route.
Vijender built a 13-1 win-loss record against unheralded opponents and last fought around two-and-a half years ago. Jangra won the World Boxing Federation’s super featherweight world title last November. A 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, Jangra has a 11-1 pro record.
Goyat, the most experienced Indian pugilist in the pro circuit with 25 bouts to his name, has a 19-4-2 Win-Loss-Draw record. His last bout was a win by unanimous decision over Whindersson Nunes in November. Three-time Olympian Vikas Krishan has three pro bouts to his name. He turned pro before returning to the amateur ranks before the 2012 London Games. Unlike Dev, all the prominent Indian boxers enjoyed success at amateur level before turning pro.
Boxing Federation of India (BFI) officials though claimed they were neither consulted nor informed by Dev of his decision, but hinted that boxing’s uncertainty as an amateur sport could have played a role. “It’s his choice. We don’t endorse it because he is a great talent and a potential Olympic medallist. Even though Olympics is not part of the initial programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, he would have had enough opportunities to win prestigious medals for India. That said, IOC is yet to take a final call on boxing’s future for the LA Games,” a senior BFI official said.
“Look at the amount of money the government spent on grooming him, and now that he was shaping up nicely for this Olympics cycle, he has decided to walk away. I think he made the move a little too early,” the official said.
That said, Dev, who idolises US boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr., can still represent India at the Olympics as IOC rules allow professionals to return to amateur boxing and compete in the Games.
