FROM being a child who was constantly bullied in school, Sebastian Singh made sure he would make an impact and a difference through the challenges he went through as a child.
At the age of 24, Sebastian has carved his name in the record books of Fiji boxing with an impressive fighting record.
A quiet and humble young man, Sebastian learned the basics of boxing from his father Gyan Singh, a trainer who has groomed many professional boxers in Fiji.
He said he had to learn to defend himself after bullying incidents and those experiences changed him to become one of the best boxers in the region.
“When I was growing up I had the opportunity to see my father train boxers at his gym but I never had the drive to actually do it then,” he said.
“After I was bullied a lot in school, I thought I should start learning to defend myself. Shortly after, I started to develop a passion for the sport and could actually see my name up there with the boxing greats.
“I was inspired by my father because he had trained a lot of good fighters, but unfortunately most of them left after they became successful.
“Seeing my dad watch those boxers leave sort of hurt me because he had put in a lot of his effort and his time for these boys and they just left. So I made sure that I would work hard and continue to learn from my father and become a boxer myself.”
Sebastian said when something was done because of love, it wasn’t seen as a task.
“Sometimes I sit and remember the hardships I went through and I clearly remember one time when I was 15 years old I had a shoe that had a hole in it and it was one of those shoes that you can find at a shop worth $14.
“Seeing that hole in my shoe, I made a promise to myself that I will make all my hardship count and make a name for myself,” he said.
“For my inspiration I draw that from Floyd Mayweather. I love his fighting style, but what I admire the most about him is his mind-set. It’s powerful and he believes in himself and never doubts his ability as a boxer.
“Floyd’s values have taught me that our biggest enemy in life is ourselves and if you doubt yourself for a second you cannot move forward. “
Sebastian’s dream is to take Fiji boxing to the world and show that Fiji can produce great athletes with the right mind-set.
