The building blocks are slowly coming together for Golden Gloves’ next nursery event – “Thunder and Frightening” – to take place at Emperors Palace on October 21.
In keeping with the style and sass of previous years, the event will be choc-a-bloc with exciting youngsters, not least of them cruiserweight banger Keaton Gomes and former MMA star Boyd Allen, who will make his pro bow.
The show-topper, still to be approved, is planned to be unbeaten junior-welterweight Jabulani Makhense against Gift Bholo, who ought to give him a solid workout.
“Jabulani features very highly in our plans for the future, as both Jeff Ellis and myself have identified him as a “star of the Future,” said promoter Rodney Berman.
Gomes will fight Warren le Roux, a heavyweight, as he seeks win number three. It’s a good match as Le Roux can stick around and push the youngster hard. The match has been made at heavyweight, which has come sooner than expected for Gomes, who must still fill out.
There is bound to be significant interest in Allen’s debut given his popularity as an MMA fighter, having reigned as the EFC featherweight champion and always offered value. He’s currently training under Colin Nathan and said to be making encouraging progress.
An interesting addition to the bill may be two-time Olympian Mathias Hamunyela of Namibia, who claims an 89-6 amateur record. Golden Gloves is still working out a deal with his manager, but it could add spice to what is already shaping to be a cracking fight show.
Also featuring will be Anton Gilmore’s hot new junior-bantamweight, Ricardo Malajika (below), plus stablemate Julian Cooke, the cruiserweight who looked so good in his recent debut.
