Boxing
Goyat vs Pettis: Neeraj Goyat to Face Ex-UFC Champion Anthony Pettis in India
Boxing · The Indian Uprising · News
Goyat vs Pettis: Neeraj Goyat to Face Ex-UFC Champion Anthony Pettis in India
Goyat vs Pettis is set for Saturday, 23 January 2027, a six-round super welterweight bout the organisers call the biggest boxing card in Indian history. Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Chennai are in contention to host.
Host city and venue to be announced in November.
Goyat vs Pettis will headline what its organisers describe as India’s biggest boxing card in history. Neeraj Goyat, the country’s best-known professional boxer, will meet former UFC lightweight world champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis in a six-round super welterweight bout at 154 lbs on Saturday, 23 January 2027, according to a release issued on 14 October.
Goyat vs Pettis: what we know about the fight
The bout is presented by IPBL Boxing and sanctioned by the Indian Boxing Council. The promotion has billed the night as “The Indian Uprising”. The host city and venue will be confirmed in November, with Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Chennai named as the contenders. The full card, broadcast arrangements and ticket details are due with that announcement.
Goyat is promoted by Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), the company founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian. Pettis is a co-promoter of the Indian Pro Boxing League (IPBL) and the Indian Fight League (IFL), so the former champion will be fighting on a card put on by a promotion he helps run.
The Haryana boxer who took Indian boxing abroad
Goyat, 34, is from Haryana and carries a record of 21 wins, 4 losses and 2 draws, with 9 knockouts. The release says he was the first Indian boxer to be ranked by the World Boxing Council (WBC) and is a former WBC Asia champion. In 2024 he became the first international fighter to sign with MVP.
That November he beat Brazil’s Whindersson Nunes on the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson card, which the release says was watched live by 108 million people on Netflix. “I have fought in China, in Thailand, in America and in the UK, and every time I was the Indian on somebody else’s card,” Goyat said. “This time the card is ours.”
The Indian Uprising
“I have waited my whole career to fight a name like this in front of my own people.” — Neeraj Goyat
Pettis: a former champion with a score to settle
Pettis, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, won the WEC Lightweight title in 2010 and the UFC Lightweight World Championship in 2013, beating Benson Henderson both times. His record in mixed martial arts is 25 wins and 14 losses, with 11 knockouts. The release did not give a professional boxing record for him.
He made his professional debut in January 2007, so the date of Goyat vs Pettis falls 20 years later, days before he turns 40. The fight is also personal. His younger brother Sergio Pettis, a former Bellator bantamweight world champion, lost a unanimous decision to India’s Sabari Jaishankar at Road to IPBL 2 in Hyderabad in March 2025. “This one is for him, and I am coming to win,” Anthony Pettis said.
Goyat vs Pettis head to head, as listed in the release
| Neeraj Goyat | Anthony Pettis | |
|---|---|---|
| From | Haryana, India | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Age | 34 | Turns 40 days after the fight |
| Record | 21-4-2, 9 KOs (boxing) | 25-14-0, 11 KOs (MMA) |
| Known for | First Indian boxer ranked by the WBC; former WBC Asia champion | WEC (2010) and UFC (2013) lightweight champion |
| Promotion | MVP | Co-promoter of IPBL and IFL |
The rest of the Goyat vs Pettis card
The release says the card will feature the country’s top-ranked boxers, including Akshay Chahal of Rohtak, Faizan Anwar of Kolkata, Pavan Kalyan of Hyderabad, Ritesh Singh of Dehradun and Laldinsanga Ramlawt of Mizoram, along with other leading fighters from across India. Ramlawt is the Northeast’s representative on the announced bill.
IPBL Boxing says it has staged professional boxing in India for more than ten years. It is led by co-founders Akshar Madhavaram and Prashanth Singh with actor and producer Rana Daggubati, and its events have been broadcast on DAZN, UFC Fight Pass and aha. “Every big sport in this country started with one night that people still talk about years later,” Daggubati said. “This can be that night for boxing.”