PAKISTAN’s unbeaten World Boxing Council flyweight Silver champion Muhammad Waseem is training hard at the gym of Jeff Mayweather, the uncle of Floyd Mayweather Jr., for his title defense against unbeaten Filipino Geimel Magramo at the Millenium Hilton Hotel in Seoul, South Korea on Nov. 27.
The 29-year-old Waseem won the title by scoring a stunning upset over fancied Filipino boxer Jether Oliva in July and is hoping to beat the 22-year-old Magramo and move forward to a possible title clash against super flyweight champion, unbeaten Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez.
Boxing Scene reported that Waseem is in the United States training until next month under “Jazzy Jeff” Mayweather, whose biggest accomplishment was winning the IBO junior lightweight title in April 1994.
But after two successful defenses, Mayweather lost the title to Oscar de la Hoya by a fourth-round TKO in March 1993. He had a record of 32-10-5 with 10 knockouts.
Mayweather has trained several world champions including Sultan Ibragimov and Celestino Caballero.
Waseem believes that by taking down a tough opponent such as Magramo, who has a record of 17-0 with 13 knockouts, will add to his credentials.
“I want to win this fight but Magramo is a formidable opponent with a great record. I’ve just started getting back on track with Jeff after a break,” said Waseem, who trains at least six hours a day and believes that the amount he spends sparring with different opponents will make a difference.
He added: “My target is to have at least 100-120 rounds of sparring—ideally more.”
The Pakistani champion said he was “spending a lot of time in physical training too, but the biggest advantage of training in the US is that we get a variety of sparring partners, from Puerto Rico to Phoenix (Arizona).”
Magramo won the vacant WBC International title with a sixth-round TKO over Jeny Boy Buco last Dec. 12, 2015 and is coming off a unanimous 10-round decision over Renz Rosia last July 16.
Gemiel is the fifth in the exciting Magramo boxing clan and seeks to follow in the footsteps of his father Melvin Magramo, popular uncle Ronnie “The Toy Bulldog” and Ric and Alvin.
Magramo is a stylish fighter with a powerful right hand but is not expected to have an easy time against Waseem, who is referred to as “The Pride of Pakistan.”
According to a WBC report, Waseem “displayed his consummate boxing skills to dominate the experienced Oliva with two of the three judges having Waseem a shutout winner 120-112 and the third judge scoring it 119-113.”
Waseem only joined the pro ranks last year and his success followed a glittering amateur career where he won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland in 2014.