Is Chris van Heerden too good for his own good?
It’s a fair question to be asked after Rodney Berman was spotted earlier this week tearing his hair out.
“We’ve been scouting around internationally for an opponent for October, but they’re all running for the hills,” said the exasperated promoter.
Earlier, attempts to draw Paul Kamanga out of his lair failed – he wasn’t interested in a showdown with the former IBO champion.
“Chris has more of a presence than people give him credit for,” said Berman, explaining that the southpaw’s time on the American west coast had exposed him to elite-level training and competition. He’s a much improved fighter and a well-known one, to boot.
Colin Nathan, with whom Van Heerden is working, says the fighter has improved in leaps and bounds and will give any welterweight a tough outing.
Berman has found this out to his cost. His overseas agents say top names are outpricing themselves, clearly not interested in making the fight. To be fair, some of them are in the top 10 and clearly see a Van Heerden fight as a risk-versus-reward scenario – any title shot would be scuppered in the event of losing to him.
Van Heerden (24-2-1) has mixed in top company in recent years – his last five opponents have had combined records of 109-10-2, and he won four of those outings.
