If you like your heavyweights big and meaty, chances are you will approve of Juan Roux.
At 125kg, there’s no doubting his status as a natural heavyweight, although he’s less a puncher than a slow-poison merchant.
Next month, the Cape Town boxer will return to the scene of his best result when he takes on Chris Thompson in an intriguing showdown at Emperors Palace. In 2021, he was the underdog against Wilhelm Nebe, the giant from North West, but chopped him down in impressive style at the famous casino venue.
He captured the SA heavyweight title in his very next fight, but lost it just as quickly when Josh Pretorius dominated him over 12 rounds.
It was a setback, but one that requires context. In his case, it came on the back of a busy 12-month period in which he boxed five times, three times against big, rugged African fighters who pushed him hard.
“I took the title fight on four days’ notice when what I needed was a few months off,” he said. “I was over-fought; it was a tough learning curve.”
There are no such concerns this time. He is well rested and is enjoying an outstanding fight camp ahead of the Thompson match-up.
“He jabs and moves a lot,” observed Roux. “I’m happy to stand and fight, whatever. It doesn’t worry me. We are preparing for him to run.”
Although he concedes that he doesn’t have enough knockouts on his record – just two – he says he tends to accumulate damage and tire out his opponents before going after them.
For this camp he’s used several smaller sparring partners on account of Thompson being a natural cruiserweight fighting in the heavier division.
Interestingly, he’s sparred with Kevin Lerena too and says they shared some good rounds. The experience also assured he was comfortable with his fitness at altitude, an important factor for down-country boxers travelling to the Highveld.
Given his size, you would assume that Roux had designs on a rugby career, but he was never attracted to the sport. Although he played rugby until Grade 10, he never enjoyed the fact that you could get smashed in a tackle without being able to immediately dish up his own serving of aggression.
The trouble with stepping away from sport was that he ballooned to an enormous 180kg. It’s just as well that he soon met Sava Savvas, who became his manager, and veteran trainer Steve Kalakoda. The heat and energy of the gym did the job and Roux lost a lot of weight. He also had several amateur fights, winning a handful and losing only to the SA champion.
He made his debut in 2019 and really kicked on in 2021, culminating in his title shot in 2022.
He’s hoping that the next few years will see him enter the world rankings – his ambition is to be world champion – but he knows there is work to be done at home first.
Roux is positive he’ll have Thompson’s number, not least because he sees himself as a better heavyweight. He’s also dealt with bad hands, having recently had two bone fusion surgeries on his right hand that have infused him with confidence.
“I’m stronger than ever,” he says. “It’s soon time to go to work.”
