Greater Noida, Dec 3

Mandeep Jangra marked his return to the boxing ring with a hard fought split decision over Dinesh Dagar in the mens 57kg bout to help his team, NE Rhinos, draw abreast of Bengaluru Brawlers 1-1 on the second day of the Big Bout Indian Boxing League at the Gautam Buddha University here on Tuesday evening.

The Brawlers' Reyal Puri left Uzbek boxer Ergashev Timor with a bloodied nose in the second round of the opening bout to force the referee to stop the 91kg class contest. That result did put pressure on the 2013 Asian Championship finalist, Mandeep Jangra, when he stepped into the ring against the taller and younger Dinesh Dagar.

Mandeep Jangra, who has been away from the limelight for a while now, showed no signs of nerves as he let Dinesh Dagar tire himself with an aggressive approach. He waited for the right opening to land scoring punches, showing a keen understanding of the scoring system to win approval of four of the five judges.

Earlier, Reyal Puri and Ergashev Timor spent the first round sizing up one another, four judges scoring in favour of the Indian from NE Rhinos. On resumption, Reyal Puri found the opening to land a couple of powerful punches on Timor's face. The doctor was summoned to the ropes to see if the bleeding could be managed but after two such stops, the referee decided to end the contest in Reyal Puri's favour.

Mandeep battles to victory in Big Bout IBL