Pakistan’s Top Boxer Loses Major International Opportunity Due to Visa Delay
Pakistani boxing champion Mohammad Waseem has reportedly missed out on a potential five-fight deal with a Mexican promotion company due to a delay in obtaining a Schengen visa.
According to The Express Tribune, the WBA bantamweight gold champion submitted his passport to the Spanish Embassy in Islamabad on July 29 but has yet to receive his visa.
Waseem said he was close to signing an agreement with the Mexican company, but the visa delay prevented him from finalizing the deal.
“Under the proposed deal, I could have had five fights, and it is a huge loss for me,” he said.
The boxer said he had received no explanation for the delay, adding that visa-related problems had repeatedly affected his professional career.
He recalled missing a WBO title fight in Dubai in 2022 due to visa issues. In 2024, another delay forced him to travel to Malta just a day before his scheduled fight. He also missed several international training opportunities because he could not obtain visas on time.
“This problem has dented my career,” Waseem said.
The former three-time WBC world flyweight silver champion appealed to the federal government to issue him a diplomatic passport to help avoid similar problems in the future.
He said he had made several requests in the past but had received no response from the government.
“Had I received visas on time, I could have won several world titles by now,” he said.
Waseem also requested financial support from the government to organize a world title fight in Pakistan.
The boxer recently won back-to-back WBA bantamweight gold titles in Quetta and Lahore.
Since turning professional in 2015, Waseem has won 15 of his 17 fights. His only two defeats came in world title bouts against South Africa’s Moruti Mthalane and England’s Sunny Edwards, where he delivered strong performances.
Waseem won the WBC world flyweight silver title in just his fourth professional fight and successfully defended it three months later. He later regained the title and held the WBC’s No. 1 ranking in his division for an extended period.
Before turning professional, he represented Pakistan in amateur boxing for more than a decade, winning a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal at the Asian Games.
The post Pakistan’s Top Boxer Loses Major International Opportunity Due to Visa Delay appeared first on ProPakistani.
