NEW DELHI: Boxing superstar Amir Khan's former coach John Warburton will now be training India's sub-junior boxers. The 57-year-old Englishman will also help develop pugilists at the grassroots level. Besides Amir Khan, Warburton is also known to have trained Olympic gold medallists Audley Harrison, James DeGale and other illustrious British boxers like David Haye, Carl Froch, Callum Smith and Antony Bellew among others.
Warburton's coaching career has spanned nearly four decades. He has been actively involved with English boxing since 1984. He gained recognition through his work with the senior England men's team. He became a part of the English youth development and performance coaching setup in 2010 and helped prepare numerous boxers who have gone on to excel at Commonwealth Games, European, World championships and the Olympics.
At present, Warburton is the head of boxing at JSW's Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS ) in Bellary. At IIS, Warburton has played a big role in the development and progression of top Indian boxers such as Manju Bamboriya, Manisha Moun and Nishant Dev who recently won a bronze at the world championships in Tashkent.
Warburton's appointment is part of a strategic partnership between the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and JSW. According to sources in BFI, JSW will continue to pay Warburton's salary.
"We at BFI are elated to have Warburton to nurture young talent and guide them. Our endeavour is to not only encourage excellence a t the highest level of Indian boxing, but also ensure we can have similar levels of training at the grassroots level and create a strong talent pool," BFI secretary general Hemanta Kalita said.
Warburton blends science in his coaching methods and is armed with a Master of Science (MSc) in sports coaching. Recently, IIS tied up with IIT, Madras to develop a cost-effective boxing analytics platform called 'Smartboxer' to increase India's boxing medal tally at the 2024 Olympics. 'Smartboxer' is going to provide feedback and performance assessments using Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled wearable sensors and video cameras. According to Warburton, the system is going to allow a coach to analyse a boxer's performance in a way that aids progression.
