Boxing: McCormack has high hopes for Pushkar’s Pun-jab

A FOUR-TIME Punjab champion and Indian national silver medallist has joined Lochend Boxing Club looking to make his mark in Scotland.

Bantamweight Pushkar Singh, 24, has joined Lochend while he studies hospitality management at Telford College and coach Terry McCormack has already lined him up to represent the club in an Anglo-Scottish event at Kirkby Civic Centre on Tuesday, January 24, where some of the top fighters in Liverpool will take on opponents from north of the Border.

McCormack revealed: “Pushkar appeared one day in our gym with another Indian student friend and, right away, once he started sparring with some of my best boxers, his class was apparent.

“He’s got a great left jab and hook and the ability to move. He looked like someone who had been previously well schooled and knew his way around a boxing ring.’’

Singh said: “I had top-class coaching back home in the Punjab and I rate Terry and Eric’s [Brown] coaching methods in the Lochend gym so I’m looking forward to making my mark quickly.’’

Pushkar will take on Dean Murphy, a fighter with a reputation for being tough, but McCormack insisted: “I’m confident that Pushkar can handle this guy and he needs to get a bout under his belt before we put him into the Scottish Senior championships next month.”

Also on the bill, Lochend’s Eastern District 64kg champion Lewis Benson will face Robbie Davies junior while lightweight Kevin Skey goes head-to-head with former Junior ABA champion Craig Johnson.