Biography :

Akhil Kumar was born in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh on 27th March 1981and the soil of Haryana nurtured his talent. He started boxing at an early age of 13 years. He cherishes the memory of his first ever fight at “School State level Boxing” in Haryana. He started boxing as a hobby, as a passion which he wonderfully transformed into his loving Profession.

 

Career

1994-2004 

Akhil stepped in International boxing arena in 1999 with a Gold medal in 6th Y.M.C.A. Junior International Boxing Championship. Thereafter a couple of years in 2001 he managed to Win Gold medal once again in International Invitational Boxing Championship held at Russia.

In 2003 Akhil crossed a big milestone at Afro Asian Games, by winning Gold medal in Flyweight category after defeating Vilitio M Payla (Php) with a margin of 20-16.

After which there was no stopping for him and he won Best Boxer Award Thrice, 12 Gold, 1 Silver and 8 Bronze medals.

2004 – 2006

At the Olympics 2004 he lost in the first round to Jerome Thomas. In 2005, he won the gold medal at the 4th Commonwealth Boxing Championships, Glasgow. He defeated Bongani Mahalangu of South Africa by a narrow margin of 18-17 in the 54 kg final.

Akhil also received the Arjuna Award in 2005.

He won gold medal in the Bantamweight 54 kg category at the 2006 Commonwealth Games by edging out Nigerian Nestor Bolum and defeating Mauritian southpaw Bruno Julie in the final.

2008 Beijing Olympics and AIBA World Cup 

Akhil qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games beating among others, the silver medallist from the 2004 Summer Olympics – Worapoj Petchkoom at the Asian boxing qualifying tournament in Bangkok.

At the Olympic event, he made his way to the second round in the Bantamweight 54 kg category beating Frenchman Ali Hallab on points 12-5.

In the round of 16, he beat current World Champion Sergey Vodopyanov coming from 2-6 down in the second round of the bout. The score was tied 9-9 at the end of the fourth round but the judges’ decision went in Akhil’s favor on account of having landed a greater number of punches. He lost 3-10 to Veaceslav Gojan of Moldova in the quarter finals on August 18th, 2008.

In AIBA World Cup 2008 held at Moscow, Akhil Beat Marcel Schinder of Germany in quarterfinals with a marvelous margin of 15-6. History repeated itself and once again in semifinals the final score was equal 4-4, but this time judges favored opponent. Hence, Akhil settled for a Bronze in World Cup.

2009-2010:

Akhil participated in the AIBA Men’s World championship (2009) held at Milan, there Akhil lost to Roberto Navarro Gonzalez (Dominican Republic). There Akhil sustained wrist injury in the first round.

In January 2010 Akhil Kumar participated in an Invitational International Boxing AIBA ‘Champions of Champion’ tournament was held in China where Akhil Kumar won the Bronze medal

Then in the month March Akhil participated in 5th Commonwealth Boxing Championship was held at New Delhi and lost in the Quarterfinal bout to England’s Ian Weaver

Akhil Kumar participated in the ‘40th Geraldo Cordova Cardin Memorial boxing Tournament’ was held in Cuba and won the bronze medal there by beating an Australian boxer in quarterfinals.

Commonwealth Games 2010 (Delhi):

Akhil participated in Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010 was held in Delhi from 03-14th October 2010. Akhil was got the toughest draw among his colleagues. His first was against Quadir Khan of Pakistan. Akhil defeated him in a one sided competition with the score 07-00. Akhil dominated all the three rounds in a offensive as well as defensive manner. In the first round Akhil took 02 scores and play very tactically and observe Quadir’s movement. In the second round Akhil took the lead and went in a offensive manner with the flurry of punches having perfect combination of straight, hooks and upper-cuts. While out biting his opponent Akhil landed a straight right on Quadir’s chin and left Quadir to be counted by Referee in the middle of round. Quadir’s nose was bleeding. In this way Akhil dominated second round with the score 04-00. In the last and final round Akhil went all out for the first 1:30 minutes and lead the score to 06-00. Then in the last 1:30 minutes Akhil played with open guard and call Quadir to score. Quadir come forward and Akhil land a beautiful left hook on his chin and made him to have another courting by Referee. In this way he also dominated the third round and won the bout by 07-00. It was one of the good bouts of Akhil. The main thing in this bout was Akhil played with cool mind and kept patience up to last round.

Akhil’s next bout was with Ian Weaver of England. He was a South Paw boxer with good counter ability. When Akhil stepped inside the boxing hall, the crowd at the Talkatora Stadium went delirious, almost hysterical. Even the bell was inaudible. Akhil was unfazed. He was focussed. All the while, he had to tell himself, “stay cool, stay cool”. He had lost to him seven months ago during the Commonwealth Championships here.

Akhil knew he was fighting one of the most important bouts of his life. He knew he had to curb his natural instinct (of attacking) and not at any point should let his guard fall. To beat Weaver, he must not play to the gallery.

That’s what the Melbourne Games gold-medallist did. He drew his opponent to him, punched him and withdrew. Waltzed the canvas, stayed away from Weaver’s lethal left and kept his guard up, all the time. Upper cuts were minimal. He relied on a combination of straight left, right and occasion hooks. Overall Akhil Kumar’s 11-6 victory over England’s Ian Weaver is a combination backroom strategy and impeccable boxing.

His next quarterfinal bout was with the Mauritius boxer, who was 2008 Olympics Bronze medallist. Akhil played very tactically but he did not get some of his scoring blows accepted which went the individual scores and he lost by 05-07 scores.

Akhil Kumar will now be seen in action in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) after he was signed by the Mumbai Fighters, the only Indian team in the mega-event. Udit Sheth, Team Principal of Mumbai Fighters and MD-CEO of TransStadia said, “We are excited to have Akhil Kumar as a Fighter. He is a strong and experienced boxer with tremendous will power. Not only is he an icon but a leader from whom our team can learn. In 2005, he was awarded the Arjuna Award and this speaks volumes of his potential. We welcome him to Team Fighters and wish him the very best. We are confident he will perform well at the highest level.”

Brig PK Muralidharan Raja, IABF general secretary, said, “This is one of the best signings Mumbai Fighters could have done for their team. Akhil’s open guarded style of boxing is suitable for pro boxing and it will be a great plus point in the World Series of Boxing too. He has the right attitude and upcoming boxers could not have had asked for a better example to look up to than Akhil. His experience is immense and he could easily be a team-leader and mentor for all the Mumbai Fighters’ boxers. Congrats to the Fighters team.”