Neeraj Goyat

Neeraj Goyat (born 11 November 1991) is an Indian boxer and mixed martial artist. He won the title of "India's Most Promising Boxer" in 2008. The first Indian boxer to have made it to WBC World Rankings (Ranked 20). Also, he won award of WBC Asia "Honorary Boxer of the year" in 2017. He became the first Indian who defeated China's boxer Xu Can in China in the year 2014,  who is  World Boxing Association world champion. Neeraj was in a car accident in 2019, but has recovered and competed since.

In June 2024, Goyat appeared on the reality TV show, Bigg Boss OTT Season 3. However, he was eliminated from the show after just 5 days.

Early life
Goyat was born in begumpur village in Karnal, Haryana. Neeraj Goyat did his Schooling till 9th standard from SD model school, Haryana. He Started boxing in 2006 in the Army sports institute and studied for 10th standard there. In the first senior national tournament held in 2017, he won the platinum medal. In the year 2014, Neeraj Goyat won the gold medal in the Youth National Tournament.

Neeraj got interested in boxing because the physique and the personality of sportsmen really appealed to him. He started with gymnastics, but then when he saw boxers training around him he was really impressed with their level of fitness and longevity and that's how he shifted to boxing he got selected in the Army sports institute in the year 2001, got very good training from the coaches there and learnt a lot from the senior cyclists in the institute.

He aims at becoming the WBC World Champion and follow the footsteps of his favorite boxer Mike Tyson who is also a former WBC World Champion.

Career
Neeraj Goyat is the first Indian professional Boxer who went to Venezuela for the Olympic qualifiers before 2016 Summer Olympics and won bronze medal. He won the Award of WBC Asia ‘Honorary Boxer of the year’ 2017.

Nunes vs Goyat
On 21 May 2024, it was announced that Goyat would face YouTuber and boxer Whindersson Nunes on the undercard of the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson Netflix event on 20 July 2024 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, US. However, due to a personal issue with Mike Tyson, the event was postponed and will now take place at the same arena on 15 November 2024.

Performance in pro boxing

 * 3 times WBC Asia title holder.
 * WBC Asian Champion 2015
 * WBC Asian Champion 2016
 * WBC Asian Champion 2017

Total number of Pro fights – 24
 * Won – 18 (8 knockouts)
 * Draw – 2
 * Lost – 4

Performance in amateur boxing
International level achievements


 * Olympic qualifiers tournament 2016 Venezuela – bronze medal
 * Youth commonwealth games 2008 – bronze medal
 * Youth world championship 2008 Mexico – participation
 * President cup Indonesia 2011 – participation
 * World military games 2011 Brazil – participation

National level achievements


 * Junior national 2007 – bronze
 * Youth National 2008 – gold
 * All India super cup 2010 – silver
 * All India AK Mishra 2010 – gold
 * National games 2011 – silver
 * Senior national 2012 – silver

Television shows on boxing

 * SFL Challengers - telecasted in August 2012 on Zoom (TV channel).
 * 2013 in SFL numbered events.
 * Captain of the team Haryana Warriors in Super Boxing League Season 1 - telecasted on Sony ESPN from 7 July to 12 August 2017.

Reality television

 * 2024 - Bigg Boss OTT 3 as a contestant - evicted on Day 5, finishing in 17th place.

Films

 * Neeraj Goyat made his Bollywood debut with Anurag Kashyap’s film Mukkabaaz.
 * Ultimate Beastmaster - telecasted in December 2017 Via Netflix.
 * Toofaan as a boxer
 * Telugu movie RRR (film)
 * Telugu movie Ghani (2022 film)