The little and the large were on full display at Emperors Palace on Tuesday, but the spotlight quickly shifted to the two headline acts – IBO champion Uisma Lima and South Africa’s Shervantaigh Koopman – who will clash for the world super welterweight title this Saturday.
Aptly titled “The Coronation”, a cheeky nod to Koopman’s anticipated crowning, the early weigh-in and press conference made one thing clear: this won’t be an easy coronation.
Lima is in peak physical shape: ripped and lean. He looks like a man ready to do business.
after a gruelling 12-week camp that took him to three countries: Portugal, Dubai and England, where manager Mervin Turner is based.
“He’s worked incredibly hard to ensure a successful first title defence,” said Turner, views echoed by chief trainer Alberto Costa.
“I’m 100 percent satisfied,” said the Portuguese for whom going on the road with his star pupil holds no fears. He said that Lima had only boxed four times at home in his 14-bout pro career. Indeed, his second to last win saw him defeat unbeaten Haro Matevosyan in his German backyard for the IBF Intercontinental championship.
“Then he beat the IBO champion in Canada,” said Costa, adding that neutral officials more than balanced out any concerns about home cooking this weekend.
Lima himself insisted he wants to fight the best, saying that Koopman represents the elite of the division. “It’s the right fight for us.”
The challenger, laidback as ever, spoke of the virtues of living clean and training hard. “To be here as this unfolds is a blessing,” he said, quietly confident of victory on Saturday.
Meanwhile, interest in the fight continues to grow with 41 countries taking the broadcast and China in mid-negotiation to do so.
On the other side of the scale, Siya Kuse and Samuel Salva have a 10-round strawweight battle that has more than the usual needle to it. Kuse simply must win given that he has been given the go-ahead to contest the WBC title eliminator against Joey Canoy. A loss on Saturday would be a major setback.
He was in no mood to even contemplate the possibility. “He’s a hard opponent, but the fight won’t be hard. I’ll make it easy – I’ll win by KO.”
With a test weight of almost 116kg, Juan Alberts is more than twice as big as either man. He, too, said all the right things ahead of his showdown against Mateus Munhoz, the Brazilian heavyweight champion.
Both were friendly and engaging on Tuesday, expressing a mutual respect that wasn’t misplaced.
“He’s a big boy,” said trainer Ryno Liebenberg. “We need to make a statement come Saturday. This guy is JJ’s best opponent by far.”
Liebenberg, a hard task master, praised Alberts for passing every test thrown his way. “Nothing is too much for him, he just does it,” said the former SA light heavyweight champion, who mentioned that Alberts had run a 25-minute 5km, a remarkable feat for a man of his size.
It’s an especially big night for trainer Vusi Mtolo, who has three fighters on the bill in Koopman, Kuse and Darrin Rossouw. As ever, he was unflappable, knowing full well that he has done his job.
All that remains is for his fighters to do theirs.
