Today's Edition
KUUMAR SHYAM (Abu Dhabi)
The fourth edition of the Rising Stars Arabia (RSA) boxing series will be held on Saturday at a new venue – the Space42 Arena next to Al Raha beach – with fighters on the cards looking to scale another height in their careers.
Among the prominent names will be Ajman policeman and UAE’s pride Sultan Al Nuaimi and Jordan’s Bader Al Dherat, who has been based in Dubai for the past three years since getting his first big break with the Rising Stars when he was handpicked by the promoter Ahmed Seddiqi.
Al Dherat’s lightweight clash with Orlando Mosquera will be the main bout on the fight card. UAE’s own Al Nuaimi and Fahad Al Bloushi, both boasting impressive records, will also be putting their undefeated statuses on the line in their respective matches.
At 30, Al Nuaimi has been a late bloomer since picking up the sport for the first time when he was only 24. Since then, he has been only proving critics wrong on all occasions, including creating history for the UAE as the first to win a boxing match at the Asian Games, which was held in China last September.
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“I always fight boxers younger than me and have ended up winning. But this time the opponent is tough; he is more experienced than me.”
Unlike Al Dherat, the homegrown talent of Al Nuaimi cannot afford to go into training sessions, certainly not with his job. “I get up at 4am and go to work until 2pm. Then I head straight to the gym for my boxing and strength conditioning training. After coming back, I need at least five hours for recovery while I relax and chill with family and friends. Then I go for an outdoor run before going to sleep,” says Al Nuaimi about his training regime.
The fight is coinciding with the start of the second and final qualifying tournament for Asian boxers in Bangkok from Friday, and given Al Nuaimi’s breaking of a glass ceiling for UAE players at the Asiad, talk veers naturally to it. However, Al Nuaimi informs that there were no entries submitted by the Federation.
While Al Nuaimi is not losing sleep on missing the Road to Paris, he is clear on what approach to take against his Tanzanian rival in the super flyweight fight on Saturday.
“It is all about speed and no power in the final week to a fight. At the pro level [Asian Games is fought as amateurs], it is different strategy. It is all about chipping away and reading your opponent, and break his will [power]. And that can appear boring from the outside.
“In my last fight, [a 10-round win against Venezuela’s Eliu Canario] people thought I was struggling. But they didn’t know my opponent had a 90% record of knocking out, so I did very well to beat him.”
Against Kizota on Saturday, Al Nuaimi has extra reasons to worry. “He is an awkward fighter to read. Also this is my first time that I am fighting a southpaw. I need to come out with a very good gameplan against the left-hander and take advantage in the first one-two rounds.”
This initiative is propelled by AAM Seddiqi Sports in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi.
