Former boxing promoter Praneel Dass is confident of making a comeback next year.

Dass is the former owner of Lautoka-based real estate company, Inglewood Realtors, and Westwood Boxing Promotions.

Speaking to SUNsports, Dass said professional boxing in Fiji is doing well.

Dass currently resides in Honiara, Solomon Islands and was in the country for a short break.

He indicated his intention to start promoting in 2024 and help lift boxing to another level.

“I’ve started my planning and hope to put a few big ones next year,” Dass said.

“This is part of the legacy where my father was also a promoter during his heydays.”

Dass added that if things turn out well he could be also promoting in the Solomon Islands and will try to get Fiji boxers to fight there.

“I could do the same with the Solomon Island boxers by bringing them over to Fiji.

“During the Pacific Games, we have seen a huge improvement in the number of amateur boxers in the Solomons.”

Dass said nothing is impossible if you start believing in your own ideas and work on them.

“Never underestimate what you can do and you may surprise yourself with the outcome.

“Create a culture of learning and experimentation at the start of the business. This will become a powerful value with the growth of the business,” the former Pandit Vishnu Deo Memorial College student said.

“I had a good business discussion with Solomon Islands Prime Minister (Manasseh Sogovare) and will also be meeting him again for a business discussion next year.”

Westwood Boxing Promotions hosted three programmes from 2015 to 2018 at Prince Charles Park in Nadi, Novotel Lami Suva Bay, and Subrail Park in Labasa.

“When I did my promotion in 2015, boxing was dead in Fiji. Nadi did not have any programme for seven years. Labasa, a lapse of 11 years and Suva, a lapse of six years.

“It was Westwood who revived boxing in Fiji that time, then this all started with new promoters coming in” he added.

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