Afghan boxer Hamid Rahimi arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday ahead of his “Fight 4 Peace” match in Kabul with Dominican Republic rival Rafael Bejaran.
Rahimi and Bejaran, both based in Hamburg, Germany, will fight each other on October 30 in Afghanistan’s first time hosting an international pro-boxing match.
The World Boxing Union champion for 2012 told TOLOnews on Saturday that he had pushed for the bout to be held in Kabul.
“I requested that the competition be held in Kabul because I want to change the system of athletics in Afghanistan and I also want the world to know that Afghanistan has best athletes,” Rahimi said.
The winner of the match will take home the belt “Fight 4 Peace” from the World Boxing Union.
In the six years since Rahimi, 29, began professional boxing, he has fought 21 times and only lost once.
Bejaran, 31, who has been fighting for four and a half years has lost two of 16 matches.
It will be the first time the two middleweights will fight each other.
Rahimi, the first Afghan boxer to win a World Boxing Union championship, was born in Kabul in 1983. With the ongoing civil war, he and his family fled Afghanistan in 1992 to Germany.
He began to train in boxing and martial arts when he was 14, reportedly after he met with some bullying at school from fellow pupils.
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