When I walk for a designer, I walk the ramp as Vijender Singh, the boxer. I believe that by doing so, boxing will at least, in some way, get promoted in our entertainment industry. Plus, if cricketers can, why can't I?
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The thing with professional boxing is you have to have the right promoter and the right fights. It is a cut-throat business.
There's so much pressure on becoming the next Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson, and if you don't achieve that in boxing, you're nothing.
Boxing is a sport, but it's also entertainment. I wanted to transcend the sport and be considered just not as a fighter, or a champion, but someone very special.
As a boxer, you have to put risk in to get to another level.
It takes a certain type of man to become a boxer, to fight for a living. To be able to have the confidence to hit another man, to control your fears. You must overcome the psychical aspect and believe in the art, the discipline of the sport. You need to study. You need to be smart.
An incident that left an impression on me was the 1999 sub-junior national boxing championship held in Calcutta. I had trained extremely hard to get there but got kicked out in the first round itself. 'If others can win, why can't you?' I repeatedly asked myself.
To make it in boxing, you must captivate the fans in America, too.
I have never thought of a full-fledged career in Bollywood because boxing has never left my mind. But you never know.
Boxing's not a career for anyone: it doesn't last long enough to be a career.
I don't promote boxing, I promote people. Boxing is a catalyst to bring people together.