Gurcharan Singh (boxer) explained

Gurcharan Singh Nagar
Nickname:The Storm
Birth Date:1977 4, df=yes
Birth Place:Rurawal Punjab, India
Height:1.91m (06.27feet)
Weight:Light heavyweight
Style:Orthodox
Total:21
Wins:20
Ko:11
Losses:1
Draws:0
No Contests:0

Gurcharan Singh (born 10 April 1977) is an Indian professional boxer born in Rurewal, Punjab, and currently settled in Philadelphia, US.[1]

He competed in the light heavyweight division at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.[1] Although he lost in the first round at the 1996 Summer Olympics, Singh excelled his boxing performance at the Sydney games by defeating South Korea's Ki Soo-Choi, and South Africa's Danie Venter in the first two rounds. During the quarterfinal match, Singh made an early lead against Ukraine's Andriy Fedchuk; however, he failed to evade a punch in the last round until Fedchuk drew a sudden death point to end the match. As a result, the judges made a decision to break a deadlock and earned a score of 60–42 to the Ukrainian boxer; therefore, Singh did not advance into the semi-final match.[2]

Gurucharan Singh was last employed as a Naik Subedar in the 17 Sikh Battalion in the Indian Army.

Gurucharan Singh relocated to the US and settled in the boxing town of Philadelphia while pursuing his professional boxing career from 2001 to 2010.

Olympic results

1996 (as a light heavyweight boxer)

2000 (as a light heavyweight boxer)

Professional boxing

After his disappointing loss in the Olympics semifinal to Andriy Fedchuk, which Gurucharan still believes was an unfair result against him due to a sudden death point, 6 months after the Olympic loss while he was training in Czech at a boxing camp he left without informing anyone,[3] only after a while it was realized that he migrated to USA. As he left without informing anyone at workplace or in the Indian Boxing Federation his then employer Indian Army considered him AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave) and faced and inquiry on arrival.[4]

Career

In 2001 Gurucharan signed up for Pro Boxing in the United States. His first bout was with a lesser known Derrick Minter which he won in the first round on TKO. He was nicknamed Guru "The Storm" Nagra and had unbeatable run for record 20 straight fights with 11 KO/TKO's before he was stopped in the 10th round by Timur Ibragimov in 2010. Guru was also promoted as "The world's first professional Asian Heavyweight Boxer", In the later part of his professional boxing career Guru suffered various bodily injuries and subsequent surgeries that kept him away from the ring with only professional 4 bouts from 2004 to 2010[5] .

Return to India

With the AIBA easing its restrictions on professional boxers participating in Olympics or other international boxing events, in 2014 Guru patched up with the Indian Boxing Confederation and the Indian Army and returned to Indian 15 years after he had disappeared with a desire to represent India at the 2016 Rio Olympics

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
2120–1Timur IbragimovTKO10 (10), 24 Aug 2010
2020–0Aleksandrs Selezens PTS67 Mar 2009
1919–0Colin Kenna KO4 (8)27 Sep 2008
18Win18–0Mike Miller UD619 Oct 2007
17Win17–0Jermell Barnes 104 Jun 2004
16Win16–0Charles Brown UD66 Mar 2004
15Win15–0Cliff Nellon KO3 (6), 9 Dec 2003
14Win14–0Scott Jones UD627 Jun 2003
13Win13–0John Battle UD66 Jun 2003
12Win12–0Alejandro Torres UD418 Mar 2003
11Win11–0Bryan Blakely TKO1 (4)31 Jan 2003
10Win10–0Francisco Pena TKO2 (4)13 Dec 2002
9Win9–0Andrew Hutchinson 49 Aug 2002
8Win 8–0Donald Colbert 2 (?)22 Jun 2002
7Win 7–0Phil Ford TKO1 (?), 26 Apr 2002
6Win 6–0Jesse Oltmanns TKO1 (6)16 Mar 2002
5Win5–0Thomas Talley TKO1 (?)18 Jan 2002
4Win4–0Forrest McFarland TKO2 (4)19 Dec 2001
3Win3–0Benny Garcia TKO1 (4)9 Nov 2001
2Win2–0Jerry Arentzen 428 Apr 2001
1Win1–0Derrick Minter 1 (?)24 Mar 2001

Notes and References

  1. Gurcharan Singh. https://web.archive.org/web/20200418031616/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/si/gurcharan-singh-1.html. dead. 18 April 2020. 29 October 2012.
  2. Web site: So near and yet…. Sportstar Hindu. 2 August 2008. 29 October 2012.
  3. Web site: Missing Olympian.... Rediff.com . 31 July 2015. 29 October 2015.
  4. Web site: Punching Back: 'Missing' Boxer on Radar. https://web.archive.org/web/20140321133558/http://www.newindianexpress.com/sport/Punching-Back-Missing-Boxer-on-Radar/2014/03/14/article2107551.ece. dead. 21 March 2014. Indian Express . 14 March 2015. 29 October 2015.
  5. Web site: Still feel guilty about letting down Indian Army. Zee News . 20 July 2015. 29 October 2015.