Al Dah hopes hard work will pay

The UAE's only professional boxer is hoping that all his hard work will pay off in the long run in making boxing one of the top disciplines in the country, if not the region. "When I turned professional in 2007 there was hardly any support, but today I can see that the support has grown. However, it would be good to have all the support we can get to make boxing one of the biggest sports in the UAE," Eisa Al Dah told media at the announcement of the ‘Destiny in the Desert II' to be held next month. "We've made an honest start and thanks to all the support we have received we can think of bigger things. For me, this has been a lone battle as I have to train, do the marketing and the promotion. But now there has been a change and I hope we can get even more support," he added. With a confirmed card of at least six fights, the ‘Destiny in the Desert II' is scheduled to take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre on June 15.The fight night was announced at the Dubai Sports Council (DSC) in the presence of DSC's Ahmad Al Rahoumi, former three-time World Thai Boxing Champion Prince Amir Shafiypour and Mansour Al Habtoor. "We've started small, but with the support we are looking to build something big and bring in an event that is really huge with all the big names," Al Dah promised. Top names Jointly organised by EMD Sports Services and Golden Cage Promotions the June 15 fight has lined up some of the top names in the world of classical boxing, Thai boxing and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) at hall number seven of the Dubai World Trade Centre. "This will be a great opportunity for boxing in the UAE as it is our desire to enhance the sport here. Boxing is a big business and we realise that in order to bring in the big mames we need some big support," observed Jessie Robinson, CEO, EMD Sports Services. "We need top judges and referees for an event. And if we have the right support, we can even stage a fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. We need the support and we need everybody to get involved. We have the support, but we need more," Robinson added. Shafiypour observed that following for boxing and martial arts has grown tremendously in the past ten to 12 years. "We ought to start somewhere and what Eisa Al Dah is doing is a good start," Shafiypour said.