Four years after his last championship shot, the man known as “Golden Boy” is preparing for another attempt at a major title.
Azinga Fuzile will travel to Kazakhstan to challenge unbeaten Sultan Zaurbek for WBA Continental super featherweight honours on April 5.
Zaurbek is ranked number three by the WBA and by all accounts is a rising star in the division. The southpaw trains in America with top Mexican handler Manny Robles, who has worked with the like of Reggie Johnson, Oscar Valdez, Vergil Ortiz Jr and Michael Conlan. Perhaps most famously, Robles was in Andy Ruiz’s corner the night he shocked Anthony Joshua for the heavyweight championship.
Zaurbek himself has crafted a 19-0 (13) record, although he arguably hasn’t faced someone with the class and talent of Fuzile. His best win came in his most recent fight against former world title challenger Damian Wrzesinski.
He’s boxed several times in the UK, and once in each of Dubai and Monte Carlo, which suggests he’s comfortable on the road and ought to be even better placed performing at home, where he hasn’t appeared in four years.
The South African has rebounded well since his title loss against then IBF champion Kenichi Ogawa. He’s put together three back-to-back stoppage wins to stay in contention, and also remind fans that he remains – at his best – a fast, fleet-footed fighter who can hang with the division’s best.
The showdown with Zaurbek thus represents a golden opportunity for Fuzile, both to gatecrash the WBA rankings and position himself as a viable contender for Lamont Roach’s WBA championship belt.
