Durandt swears by boxing despite martial arts leap

PROFESSIONAL boxing’s enormous popularity all around the globe will never be outstripped by mixed martial arts, says top boxing trainer Nick Durandt.

The accomplished mentor has ventured into the world of mixed martial arts — a growing sporting code in SA — thanks to Extreme Fighting Championship Africa, which has done very well in producing, marketing and delivering the sport in the country.

‘‘Mixed martial arts will not be in a position to take over the magnitude of boxing worldwide. The proof of this was in the sales of the recent fight between WBC and WBA super junior middleweight champion Floyd Mayweather and Saul Alvarez,” he said yesterday.

Mayweather’s dominant decision victory shattered the record for the highest-grossing pay-per-view fight, generating $150m in revenue from 2.2-million pay-per-view buys.

‘‘I honestly believe that mixed martial arts is a sport of different spectatorship.

“These two sporting codes — boxing and mixed martial arts — do not compete against each other. They complement each other because a mixed martial arts fighter needs the boxing technique.

“I have three mixed martial arts fighters in my gym — Jeremy Smith, Leo Gloss and Brendan Katz. My boxing expertise makes me feature prominently in their training, but otherwise (coach) Marc Hebert does everything else.”

Gloss was introduced to mixed martial arts by Mikey Schultz, who later introduced the fighter to Durandt. The heavily tattooed Schultz, who confessed to the murder of controversial mining magnate Brett Kebble, was trained by Durandt as a boxer.

Smith lost the EFC Africa middleweight belt to Garreth McLellan at Carnival City last week. But an unfazed Durandt made it clear yesterday that his income comes from professional boxing, and not from mixed martial arts.

‘‘My work with Jeremy, Katz and Leo is done as a good gesture,” said the charismatic trainer.

‘‘I’ve known Jeremy for eight years. He approached me three years ago to assist him from a boxing point of view. He also requested that I manage him, and we have done well,” said Durandt.

“I must add that I don’t think that mixed martial arts fighters have the longevity of professional boxers due to the nature of the wear and tear of mixed martial arts fighters.

‘‘It is a sport where one’s career can end in one night due to injuries. However, I want to compliment EFC Africa for the manner in which they produce, market and deliver the sport in such a professional way in SA,” said Durandt.