IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship 2023: Four Indian boxers to fight for gold

Technically, Nikhat Zareen is possibly the finest boxer in India, and she backs it up with a lot of power, despite the drop in weight. (Image source: Twitter/@nikhat_zareen)

On an unusually cool and drizzly spring day on March 23 in New Delhi, Indian women’s boxing had one of the finest days in its short history. Four boxers—2022 Commonwealth Games champion Nitu Ghanghas, defending world champion Nikhat Zareen, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain and Saweety Boora, a three-time Asian medallist on the comeback trail, were all in action in the semi-finals of the Women’s World Boxing Championship at the Indira Gandhi Stadium.

Even among partisan fans, and certainly among the journalists gathered at the stadium, the mood was not optimistic. Nitu, who had won all her bouts by RSC to reach the semis—Referee Stops Contest, where the ring official terminates a contest if one fighter is too dominant for her opponent—was the only one who had a clear chance to make the finals. That was the consensus. For the rest, other theories and observations floated around. A semi-final spot means at least a bronze is guaranteed, and for Indian athletes, usually starved of medals, that would be good enough—the sub-text being the boxers would not go into the ring with the same hunger.

Nikhat was visibly tired at the end of her quarter-final bout, she could barely raise her arm when she was declared the winner. There's good reason for her fatigued state—she had dropped a couple of kilos to fit into the 50kg category, after her usual 52kg was dropped from the 2024 Paris Olympics, and cutting weight comes with the attendant problem of lower strength and stamina. She was also unseeded at this world championship—yes, she had won the 2022 world title, but that was in 52kg, and this was her first time in 50kg, so she could not be seeded. Which in turn meant that she had to start from the round of 64, and had fought at least two more bouts than the seeded boxers. The semi-final would be her fifth bout in five days, enough to leave any boxer of any calibre with no fuel in the tank.

Lovlina had looked unconvincing in her wins. She had back-pedalled through most of her fights, using her usual strength—her height and reach—to keep opponents at bay and hit on the counter. But that approach fails in the face of a truly skilled and aggressive opponent, and Lovlina was up against one such fighter, Qian Li, the Chinese bronze medallist at the 2016 Olympics and silver medallist at the 2021 Olympics. Qian was bound to cut off her escape routes and unleash a barrage of punches. How would Lovlina, also fighting in a new weight category—75kg, up from the 69kg class in which she won her Tokyo bronze—fare against someone as skilled, powerful, and experienced as Qian?

Saweety too was in a new weight category—81kg, up from 75kg—and Indian boxers are not particularly known for good performances in such heavy-weight divisions. She was up against Australia’s Emma-Sue Greentree, a skilled, athletic fighter who had won her quarter-final via RSC.

In short, the Indian fighters' chances were slim. They had many questions to answer.

Yet the day ended with stunning victories for all four fighters. Nitu, the 22-year-old from India’s boxing factory of Bhiwani, Haryana, was unfazed by her opponent, the reigning Asian champion Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan, who had beaten Nitu in the quarters of the 2022 World Championship. The two fighters engaged in a fierce, often ugly, brawl in which neither gave an inch. It’s great to showcase the kind of fighting skills that Nitu did to win three bouts via RSC on the trot, but to have the grit and fearlessness to embrace a nasty clash and scrape through makes her a near-complete fighter with a great future ahead of her in the category that Mary Kom had made her own.

Saweety has oozed confidence and an infectious, upbeat energy in her comeback as a boxer—she won a clutch of medals nearly a decade back, faded away, trained through the pandemic lockdowns with her husband, the captain of the Indian kabaddi team, and clawed her way back into the national team. In the semi-final, she brought all of that into the ring. She was not about to let go of her second chance easily. Saweety still has a distance to go in terms of ring movement as well as her punching accuracy, but she made up for it with irresistible energy and aggression. She put on a show in the ring (and was warned by the referee for it), taunting her opponent, grinning, dropping her guard to lure the Australian in, and countering with some all-or-nothing punches. It’s a strategy that is prone to backfiring, but it does make it very clear just how much Saweety is enjoying her time in the ring.

Which brings us to the two Olympic categories, and the thrill of watching two boxers who have proven that they are serious contenders for medals at the Paris Olympics.

In the semifinal of the World Boxing Championships 2023, we saw a new Lovlina Borgohain - someone with a serious capacity to brawl.

Nikhat shook off her fatigue and brought her A game to the semis, an excellent indicator of her physical conditioning. To fight a fifth consecutive bout, especially since she has hardly competed on the big stage in the last couple of years, is a feat all by itself. To take down the Rio Olympic medallist Ingrit Valencia—Colombian women are among the best in amateur boxing—with the ease and accuracy that Nikhat showed in the ring is another accomplishment. Nikhat is comfortable with her new weight category, which is also great news. She has had no drop in speed, and her accuracy is excellent—she spent the first round gauging her distance, and landed flurries of punches in the second and third against the Colombian. Technically, Nikhat is possibly the finest boxer in India, and she backs it up with a lot of power, despite the drop in weight. She also has a calm, tactical brain, and a pretty deep well of grit. Everything that a coach can want to mould into an Olympic champion.

No matter what she does in the final on Sunday (Indira Gandhi Stadium, 6pm) against the two-time Asian champion Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam, Nikhat has already shown that she has everything needed for an Olympic medal in Paris.

The biggest surprise of the night, though, was Lovlina. Her athleticism has never been in question—she is truly gifted in that department, strong, fast, and agile—but so far, all of her boxing, including the Olympics bronze, has been based on reach and defence. Keep the opponent away with a long-armed jab, evade, try to hit on the counter. In the 69kg category, where she was one of the tallest fighters, this worked well enough. In 75kg, where the height advantage is neutralized, it’s not nearly as effective. So, in the semi-final, we saw a new Lovlina. Someone with a serious capacity to brawl. Someone who has the technical ability to land accurate punches both on the backfoot and the front. Someone who is not bothered by the quality or status of her opponent. She began the first round her way, backpedalling and trying to keep Qian at a distance, while landing some impressive counter-attacking punches with speed and accuracy. Qian upped the ante in the second round, and Lovlina began to match her skill for skill. In the third, Lovlina finally unveiled her capacity to shift styles, becoming the aggressor, punching heavy. She did it all with a grin on her face.

Lovlina faces the two-time Commonwealth Games medallist Caitlin Parker of Australia in the final on Sunday, and it would be foolish to bet against her. If she takes this form to Paris, it is very likely that she will not only win a second Olympic medal, but also improve on the first one.