Pawan Bartwal remains unafraid and lands the final flurry of punches to win high octane 55kg bout against Brazilian Trinidade

India’s entrant for this category at the World Championships is Pawan Bartwal, a 26-year-old army boxer who won a silver medal at the Nationals, and was selected to the 20-member team on the back of his performance evaluations.

After a slew of opening fights that saw Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Carlo Paalam and Paris Olympian Nebil Ibrahim open their accounts with wins, it was the turn of Bartwal to show whether he belonged at this stage. His first-ever World’s bout was against Brazil’s Michael Douglas Da Silva Trinidade, a former 51kg boxer who moved up in weight after competing at the Paris Olympics and has a Pan-Am silver to his name.

If any of the previous fights were evidence, then powerful punches delivered at breakneck speeds were on their way. It wasn’t that either boxer didn’t live up to that standard, but it was the willingness to not take a step back and continue fighting and dying by the pocket that made this fight an exhilarating opener.

It is rare for an Indian boxer to accept the consequences of not backing off in a bout. Usually boxers from the country fight from the outside, land their combinations with a step in and immediately want to move out of range. That was not on Bartwal’s mind and getting hit seemed a casual afterthought.

The first round didn’t give much away on how the fight would pan out. Trinidade immediately showed that he had the know-how to land a punch from any angle within his mind’s repository. Bartwal, missing that level of diversity in offensive weapons, made up for it with the cleaner, straighter shots. He shaded that first round by landing two clean shots, plus the rabbit punches that he used to delve into Trinidade’s solar plexus during an exchange.

The commentators rightly guessed that the judges would be conflicted on how to score the first, with three going with the Indian in red and two choosing to favour the Brazilian in blue.

As soon as the bell rang for the second round, Trinidade’s energy levels shot up and the Brazilian went to work trying to save his World Championships campaign.

Fatigue soon crept in for both as the second round was coming to a close. The Indian would shake his arms to get some relief and Trinidade stepped back and took a breather. He had the better offense at close quarters but Bartwal stayed in contention with his exit shots that would routinely find their mark – and those kept him in contention after all judges once again split their votes 3-2, only this time in favour of the boxer in blue.

Many boxers have felt, including India’s Lovlina Borgohain, that the sport should move back to the point-counting system that existed till the London Olympics. But one of the great spectacles of the 10-9 scoring system can appear when scores are level after two rounds with only one judge’s result the deciding factor.

Both Bartwal and Trinidade stayed dead centre of the ring, each unwilling to step back and refusing to give an inch in the third. But it was in the last 30 seconds that the bout was won.

To simply put it, Bartwal wore Trinidade down. Eventually his punches just kept landing and the 24-year old Brazilian faded out of the contest. Bartwal won the final round with a last flurry and continued his stay in what is going to be a competitive weight category at these Worlds.

Sakshi too cool for Shkeul

One of India’s medal hopes in the women’s event Sakshi Chaudhary started with a fine opening bout as well, defeating Ukraine’s Viktoriia Shkeul by referee stoppage in the second round.

Chaudhary’s long range is a weapon in the 54kg category and Shkeul was too short, and too far out of range to cause much damage. Chaudhary kept peppering the Ukrainian with her left hand jab. She handed Shkeul a standing count in the first round which led to four judges giving her the round 10-8. Just over a minute into the second round, Shkeul had accumulated two more standing counts and the referee stopped the bout to hand the Indian an entry into the Round of 16 at the Worlds.