LONDON: British-Pakistani boxing star Hamzah Sheeraz has said that playing Dil Dil Pakistan to over 100,000 people at the Wembley Stadium — after clinching the “Middleweight European Boxing” title by defeating British boxer Tyler Denny — made his enormous win extra special.

On September 21, at London’s Wembley Stadium, Sheeraz completely dominated Denny and the undefeated middleweight sent his British opponent to the canvas twice before overcoming him via technical knockout. 

As Sheeraz knocked out Danny, the song, Dil Dil Pakistan by Vital Signs was played out to the capacity crowd and the video has gone viral. 

The right cross and left hook combination early in the first round resulted in the first knockdown. Sheeraz downed southpaw Denny again in the second round with a powerful left hook.

Speaking to Geo News, the British-Pakistani star said he has never set foot in Pakistan but said that “Dil Dil Pakistan is part of me”.

He said: “Dil Dil Pakistan was played first when I won in Saudi Arabia. When you get a knockout win and your fellow Pakistanis enjoy it with you then everyone is happy and it’s special. Dil Dil Pakistan is part of me. This was to connect with my roots but also to connect with fellow British-Pakistanis. This made the winning extra special for me.”

Sheeraz said winning the European title is a “great feeling”. He said: “Once you have been in camp and it comes to fight and you get a knockout win then it’s a great blessing. Alhamdulillah for this huge win. I am blessed and thankful.”

Sheeraz said becoming the European champion is very special for him and comes on the back of a lot of hard work. He shared: “I have won 21 fights so far and the last 16 have been knockouts. Now I have got the European title. Next, I am aiming for the world title. I have been in this for seven years. I have built my way up and have worked really hard for this.”

On knocking out his rival in the first few seconds, he said: “This is all in practice and tactics. I knew his weakness and bowled him out with a knock. I worked on the hooks because I knew what I would do. I caught my opponent at the start and knocked him out. For this fight, I was in Los Angeles training six days a week, eight hours a day, from 6am till midnight. It’s very hard work. In one day, eight hours of hard training and sleeping in between the sessions and then back up again.”

The Middleweight European Boxing champion said he will be going to Pakistan in two weeks and would love to meet Pakistani youth. He said: “I am going to Pakistan next week. I will do all I can to help the future of Pakistan. I will be happy to help the youngsters of Pakistan. Definitely I will help the poor people where I can. There is so much talent in Pakistan but they don’t get the opportunity. If I can be a beacon of light through gyms etc then why not.”

The Pakistani-origin boxer from east London has remained undefeated raising the tally of his victories to 21-0 with this one. 

In addition to winning Denny’s European title, the 25-year-old also won the Commonwealth and WBC Silver titles. 33-year-old Denny, on the other hand, dropped to 19-3-3 and lost the strap. 

The defeat broke the English athlete’s six-fight winning streak.