Boxing Snippets

Fresh incentive for meaty cruiser contest

Thabiso Mchunu in action in the US in 2014.

There’s an exciting extra dimension to next month’s showdown between Thabiso Mchunu and Johnny Muller at Emperors Palace.

They may well be contesting the SA cruiserweight championship given that current champion Kevin Lerena will be forced to vacate it due to his impending challenge for the IBO title.

“We will seek sanction for it to be for the SA title in addition to the full ABU title,” revealed Rodney Berman.  “I think that sanction is a formality as these two are ranked numbers one and two respectively in their divisions.”

The ABU belt also has credibility with the WBC, which is why Berman will also petition them for a top 15 ranking for the winner, making the bout far more vital.

Berman also announced that the WBC has officially sanctioned DeeJay Kriel to fight for the vacant WBC International strawweight title.

“This is a giant leap for him, but one which I am confident is justified as he showed incredible maturity in his last fight, and will in time to come be a worthy successor to Baby Jake Matlala, Hekkie Budler and Simphiwe Konkco,” Berman added. “So, we can look forward to two outstanding events on Supersport.”

Unfortunately, the effects of the downgrade are now inevitably being felt by Golden Gloves whose plan was to have a double world title on August 12, but it is unfortunately impossible in the current financial climate.

At the same time, Budler cannot be kept inactive, so he will still be on the Lerena bill in a 10-round non-title fight against Jay Loto of the Philippines, and will then headline the bill for October in defence of his title.

 

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