Boxing is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined amount of time in a boxing ring.
Lennox Claudius Lewis is a boxing commentator and former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and the last heavyweight to hold the undisputed championship. Holding dual British and Canadian citizenship, Lewis represented Canada as an amateur at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics; in the latter, he won a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division after defeating Riddick Bowe in the final.
Floyd Patterson was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in history to win the title, and was also the first heavyweight to regain the title after losing it. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1952 Summer Olympics.
Trevor Berbick was a Jamaican professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 2000. He won the WBC heavyweight title in 1986 by defeating Pinklon Thomas, then lost it in his first defense in the same year to Mike Tyson. Berbick was the last boxer to fight Muhammad Ali, defeating him in 1981 by unanimous decision.
Theodore A. "Teddy" Atlas Jr. is an American boxing trainer and fight commentator.
The kirpan is a curved, single-edged dagger or knife carried by Sikhs. Traditionally, it was a full-sized sword but modern Sikhs have reduced the length to that of a dagger or knife due to modern considerations based on societal and legal changes since then. It is part of a religious commandment given by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699, in which he gave an option to the Sikhs, if they accepted they must wear the five articles of faith at all times, the kirpan being one of five Ks.
The Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) is a militant Khalistani organisation operating in the state of Punjab with prominent members based in Canada, the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Its objective is the creation of a Sikh independent state of Khalistan through armed struggle. According to the US State Department, and the Assistant Inspector General of the Punjab Police Intelligence Division, the KCF was responsible for many assassinations in India, including the 1995 assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. India has declared and banned KCF as a terrorist organisation.
Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) is a militant group, and is part of the Khalistan movement to create a Sikh homeland called Khalistan via armed struggle. The KLF appears to have been a loose association of scattered Khalistani groups.
A dastār is an item of headwear associated with Sikhism, and is an important part of Sikh culture. The word is loaned from Persian through Punjabi. In Persian, the word dastār can refer to any kind of turban and replaced the original word for turban, dolband (دلبند), from which the English word is derived.
Sikhism is a religion originating from medieval India which was introduced into the United States during the 19th century. In 2007, there were estimated to be between 250,000 and 500,000 Sikhs living in the United States, with the largest populations living on the East and West Coasts, together with additional populations in Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, and Indianapolis. The United States also has a number of non-Punjabi converts to Sikhism.
Canadian Sikhs number roughly 500,000 people and account for roughly 1.4% of Canada's population. Canadian Sikhs are often credited for paving the path and creating the presence of Sikhism in the United States. Sikhism is a world religion with 27 million followers worldwide, with majority of their population in Punjab, India. The Legislative Assembly of Ontario and all other provinces in Canada celebrates April as Sikh Heritage Month.
Vijender Singh Beniwal is an Indian professional boxer and politician. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, becoming the first Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal. He also won bronze medals at the 2009 World Championships and the 2010 Commonwealth Games, as well as silver medals at the 2006 and 2014 Commonwealth Games, all in the middleweight division.
Unlike the majority of Fiji's Indian population, who are descendants of Indian indentured labourers brought to Fiji between 1879 and 1916, most of the Sikhs came to Fiji as free immigrants. Most Sikhs established themselves as farmers. Sikhs also came to Fiji as policemen, teachers and preachers. In recent years large numbers of Sikhs have emigrated from Fiji, especially to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Sikhs in Fiji are generally referred to as Punjabis.
There have been Sikhs in the United States military since World War I. Sikhs and Sikh Americans have served through all subsequent wars until the present day. Since the 1980s, observant Sikhs have faced difficulty in serving due to a discontinuation of exemptions to uniform standards which previously allowed Sikhs to maintain their religiously-mandated beards and turbans while in uniform.
Boxing is a popular sport in Cuba. As of 1992, there were over 16,000 boxers on the island. Across Cuba today there are 494 boxing coaches and 185 facilities. Of the 99,000 athletes in Cuba currently, 19,000 are boxers, including 81 of Olympic competence, even though only 12 make the Olympic team. Professional boxing was banned from 1962 until April 2022.
Gurcharan Singh is an Indian professional boxer born in Rurewal, Punjab, and currently settled in Philadelphia, US.
Sadda Haq is an Indian Punjabi movie set in the late 1980s and early 1990s during the Punjab insurgency. It portrays filmmakers' perception of what prompted young men in the state to rise up and fight against what they perceived as a corrupt police and government system. The film evoked polarising reactions even before it was released, with sections of the Sikh community saying that it depicted the real face of police atrocities. Critics on the other hand felt that the movie was a mere "glorification" of terrorists.
Tiger is a 2018 American sports drama film directed by Alister Grierson, written by Michael Pugliese and Prem Singh, and produced by Daniel Grodnik based on the true story of former Ontario flyweight boxing champion Pardeep Singh Nagra, a Sikh who aspired to be a boxer only to be prevented from becoming one due to his refusal to shave his beard. The film stars Mickey Rourke, Janel Parrish, Prem Singh, and Michael Pugliese.
Kaur Singh is a former Indian heavyweight champion boxer from Punjab. He has represented India in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. Singh won three gold medal for senior national boxing championship, Asian Boxing Championship and Asian Games.
Bowyn Morgan is a New Zealand professional boxer. As an amateur he competed in the men's welterweight division at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where he would reach the quarter-finals before losing to Scott Fitzgerald, who went on to claim the gold medal.
