There was no stopping Indian boxing star Vijender Singh as he notched up his fourth successive knockout professional win by pummelling Hungary's Alexander Horvath in under three rounds here today.
Vijender had little trouble outpunching his opponent, who failed to get up after being thrown off balance by his body blows in the third round.
"I don't know what happened to him, I think he was looking to get out by making an excuse. It's a good start to the year for me. I am happy to register another knockout win. I think this is a great start for me looking ahead to my WBO Asia title bout in India (on June 11) this year," Vijender said after the bout.
"My target is to win the Asia title in front of my home crowd and looking forward to register two more knockout wins in April before I play in India," he added.
The 30-year-old Indian, who went into contest on the back of three successive knockout triumphs, continued to be a cut above his rivals, who talk big but deliver little inside the ring.
The 20-year-old Horvath, with an experience of seven pro fights before today, had been dining on snake blood to prepare himself but it seemed the bizarre routine helped little in countering the ferocity of India's first Olympic and World Championships bronze-medallist.
Vijender walked into the arena to the trademark beats of popular Bollywood song 'Singh is King' and was cheered vociferously by the sizeable Indian community present inside.
The Indian took barely a few seconds to get a measure of his rival and once that was done, Vijender landed some telling jabs to unsettle Horvath, whose spat out his gumshield twice in the opening round itself.
Vijender did exceptionally well in commanding the pace of the bout and managed to drain the Hungarian in the second round itself.
Horvath's body language was sluggish while Vijender executed his counter-attacks with the right mix of confidence and power.
Horvath's agony ended barely a minute into the third round when Vijender's body blows brought him to his knees, giving the Indian his fourth knockout triumph.
Vijender will next be seen in action on April 2, the opponent and venue for which would be decided later.
The Welsh-born Hope, who emigrated to Australia, was
also a WBC middleweight champion and has moved a division up to super middleweight to take on Vijender.
On fighting for the belt for the first time, the Indian dasher said, "After this I will come in the league, my ranking will be 15 in the world and then it's going to be like going for the world title fight -- slowly, may be next year or after that," he said.
Post the Delhi fight, Vijender, a three-time Olympian and recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, is planning to go to the Rio Games to lend his support to the three Indian boxers who have qualified in different weight categories.
"I will go to the Rio Olympics (to support other Indian boxers), after this fight. I will go and just watch the fight in Rio," said Vijender, who lost in the quarter finals of the last Olympic Games in London and also figured in the Athens Games in 2004.
