Vikas Krishan targets perfection in the art of defence
The Indian boxer revealed that he experimented his new defensive technique at the Olympic qualifiers and it worked largely in his favour.
India’s comeback boxing hero Vikas Krishan is looking to borrow defensive skills from his professional boxing training and apply it to amateur boxing.
The welterweight boxing star had a conservative defensive approach throughout his previous amateur boxing stint, where he held his guard up to block punches before going on the counter.
And while the technique won him gold medals at the 2018 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, it wasn’t enough for the Olympic stage.
His brief professional boxing training in the USA has made him realize that he could probably do much better than that.
"My stint at pro boxing has helped me understand the basic definition of boxing, which is to save yourself from the opponent's punches and hit back hard,” Vikas Krishan told Firstpost.
“My earlier approach (of holding the guard up and blocking) was quite boring for me as well as for the spectators. Now I want to show the art of defence.
“I want to show how I will evade the punches instead of just holding up the guard. If I manage to do that, the spectators will go 'wow, this is what we want to see,’” he explained.
Vikas Krishan’s second amateur boxing campaign has been promising so far, with the boxer from Bhiwani coming close to winning a gold medal at the Asian Olympic boxing qualifiers in Amman, Jordan, last month.
While an eye injury prevented him from taking part in the final bout, Vikas Krishan had already sealed his Olympic berth by then by clinching the silver medal.
The satisfied pugilist revealed that he experimented with his new defensive technique at the Olympic qualifiers and it has worked to a large extent in his favour.
"I am quite satisfied with my performance at the qualifiers. I tried to evade the punches through movement in the ring. I tried to hit the opponent more. This is an extra facet that I am trying to bring to my game.
“If you want an Olympic gold, you can't win it with a regular style. You have to impress the judges too," Vikas Krishan said.
Working out smart
Vikas Krishan’s progress is continuously being monitored by the national coach of men's boxing team CA Kuttappa, who has asked the 28-year-old pugilist to use this time to work on his back muscles.
With the coronavirus outbreak keeping everyone inside their homes, athletes have found it difficult to continue training with the same intensity. However, this hasn’t stopped Vikas Krishan who is taking help from his father to keep himself sharp.
"I don't have a punching bag at home either, so I ask my father to hold a punching pad so that I can rain my punches there.
“The idea is to maximise and optimise whatever I have got,” he said.