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On what will arguably be the
most significant boxing
promotion in Pretoria, South
Africa since John Tate’s 1979
world heavyweight title fight
victory over Gerrie Coetzee,
Real Steel Promotions, headed by
former Super Middleweight
contender Andre Thysse, will
present three World Boxing
Federation title fights on
Saturday September 21 at the
Heartfelt Arena.
The main event sees
Johannesburg’s former South
African Champion Danie Venter,
17-6 (12), take on
Barbados-puncher Shawn “The
Sniper” Cox, 17-2 (16), for the
vacant WBF World Cruiserweight
title, a clash that promises
fireworks from the beginning.
34-year-old Venter, an
accomplished amateur who fought
in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and
won bronze in the 2003
Commonwealth Games, turned
professional in 2003 and won the
S.A. Cruiserweight title in
2006, as well as the Gauteng
Heavyweight crown in 2011.
In 2012 he returned to
Cruiserweight and defeated
domestic rivals Daniel Bruwer
and Zack Mwekassa, before losing
to world class operator Thabiso
Mchunu who recently made an
international breakthrough by
defeating Eddie Chambers in
America.
Venter has since returned to
form with two victories this
year, but will certainly get his
hands full against the
experienced and powerful Shawn
Cox, who last year annihilated
former world champion Wayne
Braithwaite in one round.
Cox went on to challenge for a
world title against Denis
Lebedev in Russia, but came up
short. He returned to winning
ways this past February when he
stopped Guyanese prospect Kwesi
Jones, and “The Sniper” has
reportedly arrived in South
Africa determined to leave as
World Champion.
Also on the card, the
aforementioned Daniel Bruwer,
23-5-1 (20), will get his own
chance to win a World Boxing
Federation title, as he squares
off with Switzerland-based
Algerian Sofiane Sebihi for the
vacant International
Cruiserweight championship.
Nicknamed “Billy The Kid”,
Bruwer is the reigning South
African champion, a title he
captured in his last outing by
defeating Fikile Nyalunga this
past June. In Sebihi he will be
facing a man who has travelled
abroad on several occasions to
defeat a local hero, and who
brings a stellar 20-4 (14)
record.
The evenings third WBF title
bout, for the vacant All Africa
Cruiserweight crown, will be
between 21-year-old local
up-and-comer Kevin Lerena, 7-0
(5), and Ghanaian Ibrahim
Labaran, 10-2 (9).
While it will be the first
professional championship
contest for Lerena, Labaran has
already won both Ghanaian
national and West African
titles. Riding a ten-fight
winning streak, he sees this as
a big opportunity to become WBF
Champion, and perhaps fight
Venter or Bruwer next, should
they also pass their tests on
the night.
Billed as “No Guts, No Glory”,
the big WBF Championship
tripleheader will be preceded by
a quality undercard including
the third professional bout of
Marcel Botha, son of former WBF
World Heavyweight Champion
Francois Botha.
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