Sports
Buying glory: How Pakistani boxers are paying for victories abroad | The Express Tribune
Wazeer’s 17-0 record hides pay-to-fight culture that Jeff Mayweather calls ‘a side of boxing no one wants to show’
KARACHI:
“I want to make boxing bigger than cricket in Pakistan,” says boxer Usman Wazeer, who has great ambitions.
On paper, he has an impressive record of 17-0. He boasts himself to be the face of Pakistani boxing and claims that his fame, albeit on social media, is a source of jealousy for people who want to bring him down; however, his record shows that he has been fighting mostly in Bangkok. He has admitted to paying for these bouts out of his own pocket.
Usman is a key figure in propagating a harmful trend in Pakistan, which is also looked down upon globally. It is simple: the boxers pay the promoters, in Usman’s case, a Filipino Brico Santig, and the promoters set the bout for them after taking money.
In a world where things should make sense, where boxers should get money to fight, Pakistani boxers are paying money to get the fights.
“I have sold my car just to compete in this bout of the OPBF silver title, we make a lot of sacrifices to get where we are, and then it breaks my heart and hurt my reputation when people say they are fake fight,” Wazeer had told The Express Tribune last month, He had claimed the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OBBF) silver super welterweight title in Bangkok in August.
Following heavy criticism, Wazeer aims to salvage his reputation, as he announced earlier this week that he will defend his OPBF title in Pakistan next month.
However, in the local media, his title has been promoted as the World Boxing Council (WBC) title, which is false. The OPBF is more of a regional body based in Japan.
It was also a title that had only ever been fought thrice, and most boxing experts have argued that such titles are usually made after boxers have paid for them.
OBPF is indeed affiliated with the WBC, but it is not a title that is directly affiliated.
Usman came under heavy criticism from the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) and even Muhammad Waseem, who actually won the WBC silver title in 016 and then defended it successfully twice later.
In the boxing world, there are four major organisations that are recognised, namely the World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation, and the International Boxing Organisation.
So far, Muhammad Waseem remains the only Pakistani boxer who has the backing of the WBC, WBA, and IBF.
But Wazeer and other Pakistani boxers are foraying into professional boxing through a path that is both representing corruption in the sport locally and internationally.
When asked about paying for the bout, Wazeer elaborated last month that Pakistani boxers have to do a lot of work and find sponsors for themselves to first book the promoters, then pay for accommodations, and slot fees that can vary from US $3000 to $5000 at least, to get on the under-card, when they fight abroad.
On the other hand, in a regular boxing journey, which is not curated, a talented boxer usually gets signed by promoters and then receives money to fight, while his accommodation, travel, and fees are all arranged by the organisers. Or the organisers seek boxers to fight and pay them for their skills and grit in the ring.
A boxer must get paid to fight instead of the other way round.
However, this looks like an investment on the surface as Wazeer had appealed to the government to support him monetarily, and he got the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence) from the government on the back of these bouts.
Record-wise, Wazeer’s career looks flimsy with weaker opponents that he has won the fights against, whilst, as pointed out by the PBF, the boxer from Astore has never competed at the national championship. And that stays true. He has competed at the events that are considered lower-level in terms of the quality of the competition because they are extremely localised and do not entirely showcase the best of the boxers in the country.
When asked, he sent his national record to The Express Tribune:
– HEC all Pakistan 2016 and 2017 championship ( gold medal )
– Punjab Games 2018 ( gold medal )
– Quaid-e-Azam Games 2016 ( bronze medal )
– Islamabad/Rawalpindi Championship 2015 and 2016 ( gold medal )
– Represented Pakistan in the international amateur youth boxing championship in Azerbaijan (2017)
Now, one can argue, as Wazeer does, that PBF should not be commenting on his ways, as it is an amateur body that is responsible for sending athletes to the Olympics and other games, among other amateur global events.
The history behind Wazeer’s international representation, too, was due to intervention from British-Pakistani boxer Amir Khan, who was looking for talent to groom through his Amir Khan Academy, a project that never really took flight.
Wazeer has also been known to be a former orbiter of Waseem, shadowing the latter in the Philippines during 2017-18.
In his explanation, as to why he takes the route of professional boxing without a properly signing with a promoter and not going through the way of proving himself on the amateur front and then moving to the professional side, the 27-year-old said that he was disappointed in the PBF and the favourtism at the national boxing circuit, and therefore he chose to not pursue that path.
“In reality, it is the PBF who fix fights and cheat,” he asserted. “I have seen the way boxers are treated in the camps. I chose to fight professionally, and I have a national record.”
But Wazeer’s national participation is indeed limited to lower levels of competitions, as the best amateur boxers in the country compete in the National Boxing Championship, whereas the most talented pugilists are signed by departmental sides like the Army, Wapda, Navy, Police, and even the Pakistan Air Force.
That is where the cream de la cream goes, since most boxers come from very humble backgrounds, unlike Wazeer, who said that he comes from a bureaucratic family.
The typical route for Pakistani boxers, including Shah Hussain, who remains the only Olympic medal winner for Pakistan in boxing, had turned pro after the Seoul Games in 1988.
Most boxers choose amateur boxing because if they are talented, they do get chosen to represent Pakistan, and later have the choice to turn pro.
Of course, this is not the only way to turn pro, as many famous boxers have not competed in amateur bouts because they were signed by promoters who could help to further cultivate their skills and talent.
Wazeer, though, is not known on the national circuit to be a great fighter either. Many believe that the local amateurs have been able to fight better than him.
The trend that Wazeer is propagating is that the boxers never prove their worth on the national circuit, then book promoters abroad who fix their bout for money, and ultimately, those bouts are a business transaction that guarantees wins for the boxers who are paying the money for the fight.
Wazeer’s 17-0 record was made through such fights.
After these wins, he comes back to seek government support, which can be going to the boxers who really deserve that support, and that is where the PBF concerns, that is, the government money is to be spent on boxing, then it should promote legitimate talent, instead of the people who are taking a route that is dubious and unfair and something that can be decietful. This is not to say that boxing as a sport internationally on the whole, is not suffering from an image problem.
Wazeer also does not like the idea of signing with promotion companies and fears that they can scam him, but the reality is, he is participating in a practice that is also scamming the fans.
“It is the business side of boxing, and of course, the insiders do not want the fans or the media to know about it,” Former World Champion Floyd Mayweather’s uncle and renowned boxing trainer, Jeff Mayweather, told this correspondent.
“It is like getting promoters for hire. The wins in these bouts are guaranteed to those who pay.
“It is a side of boxing that no one wants to show, and people who engage in this obviously think that they are not doing anything. To them, they are not doing anything wrong…it is just business. The fans only know what your record is. You pay to get that.
He is not the only one; a recent example is Sameer Khan, getting a bantamweight title in Bangkok last month from Universal Boxing Organization, which is not considered a recognised body.
The hidden side of boxing
“But you pay to get a win, you pay to get a win, we also have boxers who go down to Colombia and come back with an undefeated streak like 6-0. Boxers do this to build their record and reputation.
“This doesn’t mean they can’t fight, but it is a guaranteed win,” Mayweather, who has spent his life in professional boxing and knows the ins and outs of the sport.
He further explained that this trend will stay in international boxing, and many go this route and take fights in Colombia, Mexico, Bangkok, among other places, where it is easy to arrange these bouts.
Like Mayweather, a Japanese seasoned promoter, who wished to stay anonymous, also added that in his 40 years in the boxing business, he has not encouraged or set up fights where he had taken money from the boxers, instead of paying them.
Similarly, when The Express Tribune asked Waseem, as he is the top professional boxer from the country to have even fought for the world title, if he had paid his promoters for fights, he replied negatively.
“The truth is I have only earned through my bouts, I had a troubled time with one of my promoters, but that too happened because it was always my promoters ptting money on me, and taking care of my expenses, so obviously, they would want a return through that investment, but I have never paid for a bout, I don’t think any top boxer has paid for bouts like this,” explained Waseem.
When Wazeer was asked about that, every fighter pays, and he tried to give an example of the Pakistan cricket team.
“This is a targeted campaign for me. If you look at the Pakistan cricket team, when they play against Afghanistan or Bangladesh, that too is guaranteed to win; it only seldom happens that Pakistan loses; that too is guaranteed, and the pitches are curated,” said Wazeer. “You think the other boxers here didn’t have weaker opponents they fought against?”
Wazeer was pointing his grievance towards Waseem, and also indirectly called Waseem’s WBA Gold title a made accolade too; however, the world’s leading boxing organisations recognise Waseem, and he had been featured on their rankings regularly.
He had also called out Pakistani journalists for not being knowledgeable enough about the sport of boxing.
He also ended up saying that foreign promoters do not sign Pakistani or Indian boxers and only a few lucky ones can get a good deal.
“If the promoters do not sign us, does that mean we should stop boxing and sit at home?” said Wazeer, while missing the point that mostly top promoters in the world hire boxers that they deem can win the fights, instead of boxers hiring the promoters to fix fights for them that they can win.
Had Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg just seen a ghost?
His Wolverines — then the No. 1 team in the country — were used to overwhelming opponents on the glass and in the paint. Instead, they had just been outrebounded and outscored by Cameron Boozer and the No. 3 Duke Blue Devils, and Lendeborg couldn’t find the words to describe the superstar freshman.
“Um … man … um,” Lendeborg hedged when asked about Boozer’s play after the Feb. 21 game, shaking his head and trailing off.
Boozer has had that mystifying effect on every opponent he has faced when the stakes are high.
Clutch performances throughout the 2025-26 campaign have made him the clear favorite for national player of the year honors in a season that features arguably the most talented freshman class of the one-and-done era, not to mention multiple returning All-Americans. The gap between the 18-year-old and the country’s other elite players was widened in the win over Michigan, thanks to his game-altering 3-pointer and the draw of a key goaltending call in the final minutes.
Lendeborg was not the first star Boozer humbled this season. He had 24 points and 23 rebounds against Tennessee’s Nate Ament in a preseason win. Projected NBA draft lottery picks Darius Acuff Jr. and Thomas Haugh could only watch in awe as Boozer scored 64 points combined in wins over Arkansas and Florida, respectively. Boozer also bulldozed Jeremy Fears Jr. and Michigan State to the tune of 18 points and 15 rebounds. Meanwhile, the ACC is still trying to catch its breath from Boozer’s spectacular efforts throughout conference play, with rival North Carolina up next in Saturday’s regular-season finale (6:30 p.m. on ESPN) — a game that could seal Duke’s bid for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament.
“We’ve been in a lot of big-time games, a lot of close games, against a lot of highly ranked teams or talked-about teams,” Boozer said about himself and his brother Cayden, also a five-star freshman for the Blue Devils. “So I feel like just being in a lot of those moments prepares you for this.”
Those who have watched the rise of Boozer — son of Carlos Boozer, a former NBA All-Star who won a title with Duke in 2001 — would agree. There is a common thread that ties his basketball career together, from middle school to present day: He’s a defensive dilemma not only because of his size, relentless motor, intellect and a skill set that has made a him a projected top-three pick in the 2026 NBA draft, but also because of the way the game seems to slow down for him in the highest-pressure moments.
Boozer won four state titles with Columbus High School at Florida’s highest level of prep basketball. He led the Explorers to a national title in 2025. His AAU team, the Nightrydas, won three consecutive Nike EYBL crowns. He was co-MVP of last year’s McDonald’s All American game. He won Gatorade Player of the Year twice, plus two gold medals with USA Basketball. That level of dominance means the same question opponents have always asked about Boozer will take center stage in March: How do you stop him?
Kansas’ Darryn Peterson might have the highest NBA ceiling in this freshman class. And BYU’s AJ Dybantsa is its most entertaining and explosive talent. But Boozer is, well, the winningest.
Every time championships have been on the line in his career, Boozer has won. And in the clutch moments of crucial games, he has delivered.
“It’s his greatest tool. It’s his greatest asset,” Miami head coach Jai Lucas, a former Duke assistant who recruited Boozer, said. “It’s like he’s been there before, and he’s been that way since he was in seventh, eighth grade. He’s always played with an older vibe, a veteran vibe about him.
“No moment, no situation is too big for him.”
Andrew Moran’s phone buzzed the night before a regional matchup in the 2022 Florida state playoffs.
As the Columbus High School coach was preparing his squad to face its next opponent, Boozer — a team captain as just a 14-year-old freshman — had watched the film and written a scouting report. He noted the hand signals the opposing coach had used for each set.
“It had descriptions of their plays and it had the time stamps in which it happened during the game. And at first I was confused,” said Moran, who is now an assistant at Miami. “I looked at it and I was like, ‘What the hell is he sending me?’ And then I realized, ‘Oh man, this guy is sending me detailed stuff.’ So for me, I was like, ‘This is another level of preparation at this age.'”
Boozer fell in love with the game early.
There is video of a seventh-grade Boozer blocking shots into the parents section of former NBA All-Star Chris Paul’s middle school combine in 2019, dribbling behind his back and throwing full-court passes. He already had a bag of skills players his age clearly couldn’t match.
“That’s a throwback. I think I had yellow hair back then,” Boozer said, referencing the gold hairstyle he sported at the time.
When the pandemic closed schools and gyms around the country, Boozer and his buddies played pickup games every day, sometimes in the rain, often on the full court at his house. That’s when his friends noticed a shift.
Dante Allen was Boozer’s AAU teammate then. He asked his father, Malik Allen, an assistant coach for the Miami Heat, to put their pickup crew through drills before playing 5-on-5. It was already evident Boozer had the tools to be a great player, but the drills showcased how his intensity was growing.
“I think that’s definitely when he started to get a lot better as a basketball player,” Dante Allen said. “I’d say every drill, he was very intentional with it. There was no point where he was going anything less than a 100% speed with it, just trying to be the best that he can. And then once we started playing pickup, it was just carrying over everything that we’d been doing, all the lessons he’d learned.”
During his freshman year at Columbus High School, Boozer’s combination of brains and brawn thrust his team into the state championship game against Dr. Phillips High School’s roster of now-Division I players Denzel Aberdeen (Kentucky), Ernest Udeh Jr. (Miami) and Riley Kugel (UCF). Boozer scored a team-high 17 points to help Columbus High capture its first state title.
“It was the biggest matchup that we had at that point, and he was just really poised and got us to the win,” Cayden Boozer said.
The victories piled up from there as Cameron’s game evolved.
Coach Mark Griseck figured his Windermere High School team would have its hands full against Boozer and a Columbus team seeking its fourth consecutive state title last year. Early in the game, he said, Boozer set the tone.
“The first time my point guard got hit with a ball screen from Boozer, he goes, ‘Man, it took me about three or four trips back down the court to get my senses back,'” said Griseck, whose team lost 68-36. “Because Boozer set a screen on him and it almost knocked him out. And it wasn’t illegal. It was just a screen by a tree.”
The opposing players in that lopsided affair noticed not only Boozer’s skills and dominance, but also the way he orchestrated the action on the court.
“He was anchoring his offense and not only anchoring it but calling out the plays,” said TJ Drain, a Windermere alum who now plays at Liberty. “He was very vocal with his teammates in encouragement, and that really stood out to me. Whether it was a good pass or a great cut or he’d say, ‘I know you’re going to finish the next one.'”
Boozer’s family background gave him a head start in basketball. His determination did the rest. To those who have witnessed his development, his success at Duke isn’t surprising. They saw the seeds of what he blossomed into a long time ago.
“He’s getting wherever he wants to,” Allen said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a 7-foot, 300-pound player in front of him or if it’s a pesky guard in front of him, Cam is going to get wherever he wants, regardless. And I think the really hard part about that is that he can get wherever he wants to and then the fact that he’s going to make the right play.”
Exactly 32 hours before Notre Dame was set to tip off against Duke, Fighting Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry was concerned about how his team would handle Boozer.
Those worries were justified. Notre Dame scored only 22 points in the first half. Boozer had 20 on his own. The Blue Devils went on to win 100-56.
“I’m pretty sure he and his brother were probably dominating when they were 8-year-olds, all the way through,” said Shrewsberry, who left the game in a walking boot after suffering an Achilles injury while he coached his team. “He plays as hard as anybody out there. There is no arrogance to him. It looks like winning’s really important to him, and he’s going to do whatever it takes to win.”
1:05
Cameron Boozer tallies a double-double in Duke’s win
Cameron Boozer scores 24 points and grabs 13 rebounds in Duke’s rout over Notre Dame.
Howard head coach Kenny Blakeney knows what it takes to win, too. He was on the Duke team that won its second straight national title in 1992. Having played with Christian Laettner, Grant Hill and Bobby Hurley, Blakeney also knows talent. And he realized Boozer is a lot more than that when his Bison played the Blue Devils in November, saying the “ginormous” Boozer plays like a “baby Jokic” — comparing him to three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.
“If you watch the Duke game against us, Duke was closing out the game, running ball screens for a 6-foot-9, 250-pound dude to get downhill and make decisions,” Blakeney said. “He shoots it well. He’s an incredible passer. He can do whatever he wants to do on the low block.
“It’s like the criticism from what I hear is that he’s not bouncy enough. Well, you can’t stop the stuff that he can do, so he doesn’t need to be.”
It was only this time last year that Cooper Flagg was authoring one of the greatest freshman campaigns in the one-and-done era. And Boozer is arguably outplaying him.
Boozer is averaging more points (22.6 vs. 19.2) and rebounds (10.0 vs. 7.5) than Flagg, and nearly as many assists (4.0 vs. 4.2). Boozer is also a better 3-point shooter and is playing more minutes. His current 135.3 offensive rating would set a record in the KenPom era (since 2003-04) if it holds. And he has led Duke to its best start (28-2) since 1998-99, when that squad started 29-1 (and won 32 games in a row).
Boozer has an opportunity to end his career as one of the greatest freshmen of all time — not just at Duke. According to data scientist Evan Miya, Boozer is having the best season in college basketball since at least 2009-10, surpassing Zach Edey’s second consecutive Wooden Award season in 2023-24 (25.2 PPG, 12.2 RPG, 2.0 BPG).
“I just think he’s wired for it. He lives it,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said. “He’s incredibly prepared going into the games of understanding the different coverages he can see. I mean, we’ve seen so many different defenses, whether it’s doubles or single coverage or heavy plugs, whatever it is. I credit his preparation. I credit the fact that he just lives it every single day.”
At the next level, Boozer will compete against players who might have traits he lacks. He’s not an above-the-rim threat or walking “SportsCenter” highlight like Dybantsa and Peterson, who are projected to go ahead of him in the NBA draft. But Boozer is a complete player with a knack for navigating adversity to win games.
“One of his biggest intangibles is a winning pedigree. Championships, MVPs, gold medals, he’s won at every stop, at a high level, and is a primary contributor on a team that is in position to win it all in April,” one NBA executive told ESPN. “He seems to be about all the right things.
“His actions indicate that he cares about winning, playing the game the right way, handling his business with maturity and professionalism.”
On Saturday, Boozer will lead Duke into its regular-season finale against North Carolina, the ACC outright title already in hand. After that, the Blue Devils will ask him to do what he has done throughout his career: lead them to a championship — their first since 2015.
Accepting that responsibility is all Boozer knows. He always has done his best work when the stakes are highest.
“There is a lot that comes with being at Duke, but you wouldn’t come to Duke if you were afraid of that or didn’t want to be a part of that,” Boozer said. “It’s the biggest brand in college basketball. There is always a spotlight, always a target on your back, so you come to Duke to play in these moments — to be in these moments.”
ISLAMABAD: Eight Pakistani officials have been appointed to key committees of the International Tennis Federation and the Asian Tennis Federation for the 2026–2027 term, marking a significant achievement for Pakistan’s tennis community.
The appointments are being viewed as a recognition of Pakistan’s growing role in the development and governance of tennis at both regional and international levels.
Representation in ITF Committees
Pakistan’s top tennis player and President of the Pakistan Tennis Federation, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, has been selected as a member of the ITF Athlete Commission.
Other Pakistani officials appointed to ITF committees include:
Sara Mansoor – ITF Coaches Commission
Syed Muhammad Ali Murtaza – ITF Juniors Committee
Pakistani Officials in ATF Committees
Several Pakistani representatives have also been appointed to committees of the Asian Tennis Federation:
Salim Saifullah Khan – Finance Committee, Development Advisory Group, Legal, Constitution & Ethics Committee
Ziauddin Tufail – Junior and Coaches Development Committee
Rashid Malik – Marketing and Sponsorship Committee
Shehzad Akhtar Alvi – Tournament Officiating Committee
Sara Mansoor – ATF Advantage All Committee
Muhammad Khalid Rehmani – Senior, Wheelchair and Beach Tennis Committee
Recognition for Pakistan Tennis
Speaking on the occasion, Salim Saifullah Khan said the appointments demonstrate the trust of international tennis bodies in Pakistani officials to contribute to the global development of the sport.
PTF President Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi also described the development as a proud moment for Pakistan, saying it will strengthen the country’s role in international tennis and open new opportunities for the sport’s growth in the region.
PTF Secretary General Ziauddin Tufail congratulated the appointed officials and expressed confidence that they would represent Pakistan effectively at the international level.
AHMEDABAD: New Zealand will “not mind breaking a few hearts” in the T20 World Cup final against defending champions and hosts India, captain Mitchell Santner said on Saturday.
Santner’s side will face India on Sunday in Ahmedabad with over 100,000 home fans expected to fill the Narendra Modi Stadium.
New Zealand reached the 2021 final, losing to Australia, and has never won a white-ball World Cup.
“I wouldn’t mind winning a trophy,” Santner said.
He added: “It’s going to be obviously a challenge where everyone knows we’re probably not the favourites.
“But yeah, I wouldn’t mind breaking a few hearts to lift the trophy for once.”
New Zealand have blown hot and cold.
They hammered South Africa — unbeaten until then — by nine wickets in the semi-finals after Finn Allen blasted the fastest-ever century at the tournament.
But they also lost to South Africa and England earlier in the competition.
They face an India side on a roll with three straight wins.
In 2023, Australia, led by Pat Cummins, silenced the home crowd in Ahmedabad in the final of the ODI World Cup.
“I guess that’s the goal, is to silence the crowd,” said Santner.
“T20 cricket is fickle at times. We’ve seen South Africa playing very good cricket all the way through and then had a little hiccup against us and out.
“So I think for us, it’s taking confidence from that, and if we go about our business the same way, we can upset another big team.”
Top-ranked India are attempting to become the first team to win back-to-back T20 World Cups and the first to lift the trophy on home soil.
They would also be the first to win the title three times.
But they will have to withstand the expectations of a packed house plus hundreds of millions more watching on TV.
Santner feels that the level of expectation could weigh heavily on them.
“So I think that comes with a lot of added pressure as well,” said Santner. “So if we can go out there and try and put, I guess, that added pressure on them and see what happens.”
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