Bashir: Visser next global heavyweight champ

UP-and-coming heavyweight boxer Ruann “Giant King” Visser should be SA’s next heavyweight world champion, according to accomplished American boxing trainer James Ali Bashir.

Bashir, trainer of former undisputed world champ Wladimir Klitschko and WBO cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, is in the country to hone Visser’s skills.

“I have been in boxing for 45 years and when I say a kid has potential, I mean it, and Ruann has got potential,” Bashir told Sowetan in Meyerton, south Johannesburg, where he will spend time with Visser until the end of this month.

The 2008 New Jersey Hall of Fame inductee added: “When I look at the top 10 heavyweight fighters in the world currently, Visser is in favourable position of becoming a world champion. I need to teach him few things, including proper throwing of punches because he’s got basics.”

Bashir said Visser, the 26-yearold number one contender for the SA heavyweight belt, will join the camp of Klitschko in the Russian’s preparations to challenge IBF champion Anthony Joshua in London on April 29.

Visser will be based here in South Africa and will be trained by Bashir’s assistant Soon Botes.

“I will fly in when Ruann has a fight,” said the 65-year-old trainer, who liked Visser when the boxer was in camp with Klitschko some two years ago.

“I took a liking at Ruann for his work ethics and the ability to learn,” he said of the boxer, whose career began under Joe Jackson (Michael Jackson’s father) in the US in 2014.

Visser chalked up five wins in the US before coming back to South Africa where he tasted defeat against George Tshimanga in 2015.

Visser bounced back strong to register four straight wins, including a second round demolition of Nhlakanipho Gwamanda in December.

“I am delighted to have Bashir as my full-time trainer. His vast knowledge will take me where I want to be as a fighter,” said Visser, who boasts eight knockouts in nine wins.