Yan Zak is scheduled to make his professional debut against Darshan Singh at the Round 10 Boxing Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The 25 year old Israeli's debut has been long awaited.
Zak is a decorated amateur. He won gold at the U22 European championships in 2022 and has a wealth of experience fighting at the world championships and other important tournaments. Zak is noted for his rivalry with the respected Loren Alfonso of Azerbaijan.
A resident of Ashdod, Zak can fight in a variety of styles, but is primarily a boxer-puncher. Coached by Artur Zlat of the Tyson Mireli Team, Zak boxes with an in-and out-style in the Russian mold. But he is not one-dimensional. Against a classy boxer like Alfonso, Zak mauled the Cuban-Azeri to negate his quickness. Zak's prospects in the pro game are exciting to contemplate.
His opponent, Darshan Singh, is a 20 year old from Badiala, Punjab, India with a record of 2-4 with 2 KOs. Singh is no pushover. He has a good chin, can slip punches, and has improved since his debut. In that 2023 debut against Manbir Manbir, Singh launched wide haymakers and exhibited poor footwork. In February this year, Singh showed progress in a fight against the much heavier Jaipal Singh. He developed a jab, straightened out his punches a bit, and moved more fluidly.
Singh took hard rights to the face in the fourth round against Manbir. Jaipal, who outweighed Darshan by nearly 60 pounds, dug into his body shots and connected with clean rights to the head. Yet Darshan stood up to the blows in both fights, showing not only a good chin, but a fighter's heart. He took the punishment even while the ring lights flashed and rotated into the fighters' eyes in both contests.
All of Darshan Singh's fights have been in and around the cruiserweight division either in his native state of Punjab or the neighboring state of Haryana, both home to many people of the Sikh religion. Sikh men typically adopt the surname Singh to show equality and reject caste hierarchies, which is why four of his six opponents have shared the same name. Women assume the surname Kaur. Sikhs often keep with them a kirpan, or small curved dagger, as part of their faith. Singh may need to use it in the ring against Zak to have a chance.
Zak will need to be careful against the free-swinging Singh, but his debut is hopefully the beginning of an promising career. Zak will have six rounds, so he should remain patient and try to break down the durable Singh instead of aiming for a one-punch knockout. Singh already has gone eight rounds, so the distance won't be a problem for him while the six-round length will be an adjustment for Zak.
Yan typically fought at around 200 pounds as an amateur, but this fight is scheduled as a heavyweight contest. The last quality Jewish heavyweight pro was Roman Greenberg.
