Quietly, amid India’s cricket-mad din, 24-year-old junior-middleweight Nishant Dev is assembling the sport’s greatest untapped fan base. Already 1-0 (1 KO) in the pros and backed by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, Dev fights Josue Silva on Saturday’s Hitchins-Kambosos undercard, just his second bout, yet one followed by 1.4 billion potential supporters back home.
Dev’s story reads like myth. Raised on a farm in Karnal, he toughened his mindset by watching his father plough fields, then learned basic ring craft from an uncle who boxed in German club shows. That grit carried him to a 2023 World Championship bronze and victories over amateur standouts Marco Verde, Omari Jones and Lewis Richardson. But a controversial points loss to Verde in the 2024 Olympic quarter-finals shattered his gold-medal dream and steered him toward the paid ranks.
Matchroom saw the upside immediately. “He’d never even heard of a boxer from India doing good in boxing,” Dev says of Hearn’s reaction. Now the southpaw speaks of inspiring “the next generation of athletes” and eclipsing every Indian sports star before him. With cricket icons routinely drawing TV audiences north of 100 million, Dev’s ceiling could reset boxing’s global viewership records if he keeps winning.
Ambition is not in short supply. Dev envisions future showdowns with old amateur rivals - particularly fellow Matchroom signee Omari Jones - in 10- and 12-round title fights. He also wants to headline in India, then conquer New York and Las Vegas: “I’ve been dreaming since childhood of fighting where Pacquiao and Mayweather fought.”
First comes Saturday’s business against Silva. Should Dev extend his knockout streak, India’s farm-boy-turned-flag-bearer will take another step from promising prospect to the sport’s next commercial supernova.
Image Credit: Olympics