Brilliant boxer Waseem's world title celebrated
Pakistan's WBA bantamweight champion Muhammad Waseem (second from right) is seen with Consulate General of Japan in Karachi Mr Hattori Masura (first right) and other Consulate officials. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD WASEEM
"I am very proud of Waseem, I am not a big fan of sports but I am very impressed with Waseem's achievements," The Consulate General of Japan in Karachi Hattori Masaru was brimming with joy and delight as he hosted the recently crowned World Boxing Association bantamweight champion Muhammad Waseem at the reception on June 3 at his residence.
The meeting and dinner were held to celebrate the Pakistani ace boxer's feat, which he achieved on May 10 in Quetta, where he defeated Venezuela's Wiston Orono with a knockout in the ninth round.
Waseem had fulfilled his lifelong dream to win a world title in his hometown of Quetta, and he managed to bring several international boxers and officials from around the world to his city despite the aerial war that was taking place between India and Pakistan at the time.
Mr. Hattori was honouring Waseem on Tuesday, emphasising the role the 37-year-old pugilist is playing in bridging the gap between Japan and Pakistan. Waseem has spent years training in Japan since 2015 onwards.
The training in Japan gave him the foundation as he switched to professional boxing from amateur in 2015.
Waseem's reception by the Japanese Consulate General was a mix of tribute to both Japan and Waseem's deep-rooted connection to Karachi, which had been his home and grooming ground after his home Quetta.
"It is my honour to welcome the champion," Hattori told this correspondent. "He knows Japan so well and he is also a world champion, as a Jqapanse I am very much happy that he got the champion belt."
At the dinner, Mr. Hattori was also accompanied by Mr Nakagawa Yasushi and Kumagae Takahiro. Waseem also invited his friend Farid Khan and this correspondent to attend the reception.
Nakagawa, who is also a friend of Waseem's added that he insisted that the former two-time World Boxing Council Silver Flyweight champion bring his friends along at the intimate meeting which was followed by a traditional Kaiseki menu.
Waseem is also in the middle of planning his next bout and he will aim to consolidate his world championship titles, where he would want to not only retain his WBA belt, which he had brought in a silver briefcase to show Mr. Hattori and his friends at the dinner, but he would want the WBC, World Boxing Oraganisation and the International Boxing Federation titles too.
He is hoping to fight with Japan's multi-weight world champion Junto Nakatani.
Mr Hattori shared his experience of Karachi and Pakistan since he was appointed a year and a half ago.
"Karachi is a very cosmopolitan city, and every night and weekend there are events. But when it comes to sports here in Pakistan, I watched the softball event that I enjoyed very much. It was held by the Pakistan Softball Federation," said Hattori, who is a baseball fan himself.
"Pakistan is totally different from Japanese customs and culture," he said when asked about how he would describe Pakistan to the world. "It is also the home to Indus Valley Civilisation, Japanese people know it well and we teach our children about it in junior high school, so people know about it well.
When it comes to having cultural exchange through sports Mr Hattori added: "There are so many Japanese-oriented sports that are taken up by Pakistanis like Jiu-jitsu and Karate, so Pakistani people know about Japanese culture and that helps."
Meanwhile, Waseem added that he wanted to thank the consulate officials.
"The Japanese always respect the sportspersons and especially boxing, I have always been welcomed and respected by Mye Nakagawa, who is a great friend of mine, and by the Japanese Consulate, they have always supported me.
"I am also looking for a fight, hopefully with Nakatani, but nothing is confirmed yet, I might know about it by next week or so," said Waseem.
Waseem, also known as Falcon, will be flying out to the United Kingdom for further training by the end of this month.
Meanwhile, Nakagawa concluded with encouraging words, "I'm greatly honored to have such a great athlete and a pride of Pakistan as a friend. I wish all him best and more success. And go on further, go Falcon, go."
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