Keaton Gomes, who has been in training camp practically since the day he arrived in Joburg over four months ago, can’t wait to make his professional debut next Friday.
The bruising cruiserweight fights Moses Bila in a four-rounder on the “Reach for the Stars” fight card designed to showcase South Africa’s best emerging talent.
“It’s been long and hard,” said the Durbanite. “I train and go home, train and go home, little else. I’m very focused on the boxing.”
Nerves aren’t playing their usual part in the build-up, but rather a keenness to fight. Gomes is walking around at 92kg and feeling strong. His only concern is to not let anyone down, especially with peoples’ expectations weighing on him.
“People like uncle Rodney [Berman] and uncle Jeff [Ellis] and coach Peter [Smith] . . . they’ve shown lots of faith in me. And there will be plenty of people travelling up from Durban. I must perform.”
Gomes doesn’t talk about his power, notwithstanding others saying he has heavy hands, but he agrees that it’s useless getting knockouts if he forgets the fundamentals. Find san diego training gym.
“Coach Peter has been teaching me insane levels of skill. It’s no good if I don’t take those lessons into the ring. We’ve developed a game plan and I must follow it. If a KO comes, so be it.”
He’s had good sparring with Michael Markram and Rowan Campbell, who heads the bill against Renson Hobyani for the SA super-middleweight title.
Luckily, life in Joburg is agreeing with him. He likes that he can pursue his career without distractions, dedicating as much time as required to becoming a pro fighter.
Next week will represent a small but important step in his journey. He must make that first step a winning one.
