Neeraj Goyat to face former UFC champion Anthony Pettis in India on January 23, 2027
Indian boxer Neeraj Goyat will meet former UFC lightweight champion Anthony "Showtime" Pettis in a six-round super welterweight contest at 154 pounds in India on January 23, 2027, with IPBL Boxing promoting the event and the Indian Boxing Council sanctioning the bout. Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Chennai are under consideration as potential venues, with the final location expected to be confirmed in November.
The 34-year-old Goyat, who hails from Haryana, has spent more than a decade building India's presence in professional boxing on the international stage and became the first Indian to appear in the World Boxing Council rankings while also holding the WBC Asia title. In 2024 he became the first international fighter to join Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), the US-based promotion founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian, and later that year he beat Brazilian internet personality and boxer Whindersson Nunes on the undercard of Jake Paul’s bout against Mike Tyson, an event that drew a live audience of 108 million viewers on Netflix. With Pettis now standing across the ring, Goyat is preparing for what could be the defining fight of his professional career, with the prospect of competing on home soil adding further significance to the occasion.
Reflecting on his career and the upcoming bout, Goyat said: “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. This time the card is ours. I want to thank MVP and Nakisa Bidarian for believing in me and helping bring this moment to India. Anthony is a real champion and I respect everything he has done, but I have waited my whole career to fight a name like this in front of my own people. I am not giving that night away.”
Pettis, who comes from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, captured the WEC lightweight crown in 2010 before becoming UFC lightweight world champion in 2013, defeating Benson Henderson on both occasions. He made his professional debut in January 2007 and will step into the ring nearly 20 years after beginning his career, with the January 2027 bout taking place just days before his 40th birthday.
Beyond his fighting career, Pettis has taken on promotional roles in India as a co-promoter of the Indian Fight League (IFL) and the Indian Pro Boxing League (IPBL), a involvement the source says has contributed to efforts to expand the sport over the past two years. The trip also carries a personal element: his younger brother Sergio Pettis, a former Bellator bantamweight world champion, competed in Hyderabad at Road to IPBL 2 in March 2025 and suffered a unanimous decision defeat to India's Sabari Jaishankar, a result Pettis has referenced as motivation.
On that personal motivation, Pettis said: "I have seen what Indian fighters can do, and Neeraj is the best of them. That is who I want. I have thought a lot about Sergio’s loss. This one is for him, and I am coming to win." The Goyat–Pettis showdown is being billed as the biggest event in Indian boxing history and the card will feature several of India's leading professional boxers, including Rohtak's Akshay Chahal, Kolkata's Faizan Anwar, Hyderabad's Pavan Kalyan, Dehradun's Ritesh Singh and Mizoram's Laldinsanga Ramlawt, alongside other prominent names from the domestic circuit.
Organisers expect to confirm the venue in November ahead of the January 23, 2027 date, with the fight set to headline the IPBL Boxing-promoted card sanctioned by the Indian Boxing Council.