Muhammad Ali was the first to coin, “Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee” to describe his sublime skills inside the ring. If there is any Indian boxer who can remind a viewer of that famous description, it is Nikhat Zareen. The Nizamabad-born boxing champion may look as frail as a butterfly but when she lands her punches, her opponents feel the force of the sting.
Nikhat will carry the hopes of more than one billion Indians when she steps into the ring at the Paris Olympic Games. She has been training in Saarbrucken in Germany along with five other Indian boxers in their quest for Olympic glory.
The two-time world champion Nikhat is our best hope for a medal in the boxing competitions. She has the skills and the experience to get the better of most of her opponents in the women’s 50 kg category.
Showed her class
A few months ago she showed her class at the Elorda Cup championship in Kazakhstan. In the final bout Nikhat out-pointed Zhazira Urakbayeva of the host nation with a convincing margin of 5-0. The total annihilation of all her opponents in that event will provide Nikhat a great boost of confidence as she heads to Paris.
As soon as the Tokyo Olympic Games ended in 2021, Nikhat made it her goal to take part in the Paris Olympics and come back with a medal. Today she is on the verge of achieving her ambition. There were many so-called experts in boxing circles who were ready to write her off but she has proved them wrong.
‘Butterfly’ learned to sting
Moreover, she evolved as a boxer by changing her boxing style. She adopted more aggressive tactics. But it was not just blind aggression. It was a strategy of controlled and focused power punching. From a backfoot puncher she became a front-foot power hitter. The butterfly learned how to sting.
English coach’s analysis
Boxing Coach John Warburton of England who has more than four decades of experience is now involved in training Indian boxers. He has provided an excellent analysis of Nikhat’s skills. According to him, Nikhat has perfected her punching skills by using her feet to place herself in the best position to attack or defend as the situation requires.
Warburton made her practice some changes. “Changes should be subtle, not big. Big changes can be spotted and countered. But a subtle change often goes unnoticed until it is too late. So that is what I have tried to drill into her ringcraft,” said the coach in an interview with ESPN recently.
When Nikhat won her second world championship gold last year it validated her training methods and mental approach to her sport. What added significance to the victory was that she was boxing in the 50 kg class. That is the same weight category in which she will be boxing during the Paris Olympics.
Nikhat’s main rivals
At the Paris Olympics, Nikhat’s biggest threats are likely to come from three-time European champion Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Turkey and Sabina Bobokulova of Uzbekistan. The latter has beaten Nikhat once and so Nikhat must take a cautious approach against Sabina. She is a 20-year-old fighter who is extremely fast and intelligent besides having an immense store of stamina.
Buse Naz is another dangerous fighter from the world famous Fenerbahce sports organization in Turkey. In 2019 she won the gold in the European Games in Belarus. But Nikhat’s plus point is that she has beaten Buse Naz once and is capable of doing it again.
Nikhat, Sabina, and Buse Naz are the top three contenders. If they clash against each other, it may be a matter of fate and form of that particular day that will decide who wins.
Nikhat is in the right mental condition. “I am glad that my lifelong dream of representing India at the Olympic Games will at last take place. I desperately want to win a medal. I tell myself every day that I will become an Olympic champion. Now I am mentally and physically fully ready to do it for my country,” she said in a media interview recently.
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