Female fighters will take centre stage in Dubai on Saturday night for a history-making evening of boxing.
As the sport continues to grow across the UAE, the Conrad Hotel will witness another landmark when India’s Urvashi Singh takes on Halima Vunjabei of Tanzania for the vacant Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) world super bantamweight title, in the first ever female world title fight in the Middle East.
On the week of International Women’s Day, the Countdown to the Middle East Crown series is back for its third instalment on Saturday, with female fighters getting equal-billing with their male counterparts.
Along with the WIBA title bout, there are two more female encounters on the eight-fight card, and athletes from all around the world will travel in to compete on the evening, with boxers from Philippines, India, Pakistan, the UK, Armenia, Turkey, Argentina, USA and Thailand.
“This is our third of 10 series and we are still watching these events grow and grow,” said Dunstan Paul Rozairo, Chairman of promoters DJMC Events, told Gulf News on Thursday at the Conrad. “Our vision is to truly make Dubai a boxing destination, just like it has become for so many other sports.
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We have ready-made facilities to host events such as the Conrad, Bluewaters and La Perle, plus many more, and we certainly have the fan base. What we are doing is building the platform to bring the top fights to the followers.
“One thing we are concentrating on is promoting female boxers in this part of the world. In doing so we are giving them centre stage this week in the same capacity are their male counterparts.