Big Josh on a mission to fight internationally
RICHARDS Bay’s Josh ‘Red Beast’ Pretorius has been knocking his opponents’ blocks off since turning professional last year and has a current South African ranking of seven.
The 24-year-old boxing prodigy who trains with Top Box Richards Bay under trainer Stephan Castle, has just come off a KO win against Warren le Roux.
The heavyweight boxer has an impressive record of three wins and one loss on the professional circuit thus far.
But what is more impressive is that all of his wins have come via knock-outs or technical knock-outs in the first round, with his only loss a points decision last year.
Pretorius will take on former IBO world youth heavyweight champion Flo Simba on 31 May in Boksburg.
A win here would catapult his SA ranking to at least 4th.
‘I am confident and fit going into this bout, but need to get to 107kg,’ said Pretorius.
He is 1.86m tall and weighs 103kg.
Josh trains seven times a week for fours hours a day and tries to go to Johannesburg once a month to train with Stephan Castle.
‘Stephan sends me all my training programmes and my dad Corrie trains and coaches me here at home.’
He started boxing in 2016 as an amateur and recorded two wins with two first round knock-outs before turning professional last year.
‘I used to work with Freddy Horn and we talked about boxing. He encouraged me and got me into the sport.
‘He got me my first pro fight. After he passed away I left the club as my training hours and the intensity became too much.’
Josh has not sustained an injury yet and aims at clinching the WBC title one day.
‘It is years away, but I would love to fight on the international stage with the world’s best.’
He is sponsored by Duvenhage attorneys, The Jelly Bean Group, rbsigns, Richards Bay Printers and Khulu Projects.
‘They aid me with boxing gear, travelling and accommodation costs, which helps a lot as boxing professionally does come with huge costs.’
Josh will have a shot at the KZN heavyweight title later this year when he squares up with Marc Subramoney.