I've at least 3-4 years left in the ring: Mary Kom mulls turning pro next year

Despite undergoing an ACL tear surgery, Indian boxing superstar MC Mary Kom on Sunday said she still has at least three to four years to pursue a professional career.

Mary Kom, who was in charge of the oversight committee looking into allegations of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), kept mum about the ongoing crisis.

After failing to win a second Olympic medal in Tokyo in 2020, the six-time world champion tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during the 2022 Commonwealth Games trials in June last year.

"(The) Injury is much better now. I can walk, run, though not on hard surface. I just started running on (a) tread mill," Mary Kom told reporters after she was awarded the PC Chandra Puraskaar 2023 here.

"I'm pushing myself. After one month, I'll be fully fit and recovered. I'll be ready to fight in the ring in two months' time," she said.

Asked whether she will compete at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, Mary Kom said, "This year I've a chance to compete in any competition. Next year by force, I'm not eligible."

Her bid for a second Olympic medal is finished because she will be 40 in November and will thus be ineligible to compete in any international event, including the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Mary Kom, however, said that while rules can stop her from competing in another Olympics, "nobody can stop me from fighting".

"By force I'm not eligible to fight in the Olympics because of the age limit. I'm very sorry for that. But I want to continue, keep fighting for another three-four years. I still have that confidence and willpower.

"I'm thinking, I can also become a pro. I've that confidence. Nobody can stop me from fighting."

The boxing legend underwent surgery at a Mumbai hospital in August last year.

Terming it as the worst phase of her career, Mary Kom said she would have preferred "death" to the painful phase.

"It was so painful... I didn't expect this injury. It was bad luck. It wasn't a minor injury, but a major grade-III ACL tear. People said I won't be able to run again, forget (about) fighting. Six months after the operation, there was still unbearable pain that (I) preferred death.

"In my life, I've struggled a lot, did hard work... so much that I never cried and took all the pain. But this (recovery) was unbearable. Only once before in my life, I had cried when I had lost my passport and then I attempted suicide, as I did not have the money to apply for a fresh passport," she recalled.

India made history earlier this year, winning four gold medals (Nitu Ghanghas, Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain and Saweety Boora) at the Women's World Boxing Championships.

In 2006, the quartet of Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny Lalremliani and Lekha KC had achieved the feat for the first time.