Big Bout Indian Boxing League: Mandeep battles to victory

Mandeep Jangra marked his return to the ring with a hard-fought split decision win over Dinesh Dagar to help North East Rhinos hold Bengaluru Brawlers to a 1-1 draw at the Big Bout Indian Boxing League here on Tuesday.

The Brawlers' Reyal Puri left Uzbek boxer Ergashev Timor with a bloodied nose in the second round of the opening bout to force the referee to stop the 91kg class contest.

That result did put pressure on the 2013 Asian Championship finalist Mandeep when he stepped into the ring against the taller and younger Dinesh in the men's 57kg bout.

Mandeep, who has been away from the limelight for a while now, showed no signs of nerves as he let Dinesh tire himself with an aggressive approach. He waited for the right opening to land scoring punches and win approval of four of the five judges.

Earlier, Reyal and Timor spent the first round sizing up one another, four judges scoring in favour of the Indian from North East Rhinos.

On resumption, Reyal found the opening to land a couple of powerful punches on Timor's face. The doctor was summoned to the ropes to see if the bleeding could be managed but after two such stops, the referee decided to end the contest in Reyal's favour.

Predictably, the North-East Rhinos blocked the men's 57kg bout that would have pit Mohammed Etash against 2017 World Championship bronze medalist Gaurav Bidhuri.

The system of blocking a bout has been introduced in the Big Bout as a strategic element to increase the concept of team sport in what is essentially an individual sport.