Beast ready for battle
RESTED, ready and raring to go.
This is according to Richards Bay’s former heavyweight boxing champion Josh ‘Red Beast’ Pretorius, who is determined to get his career back on track on 9 December.
He will step into the ring against a formidable opponent in Shaun Potgieter, who has a near perfect record, sporting eight fights of which only one was lost, against the current SA heavyweight champ Keaton Gomes.
It was also Gomes who got the upper hand over Red Beast in their title fight earlier this year at Emperor's Palace.
However, Josh is vastly more experienced than Potgieter, having traded blows over 12 rounds with all the top names on the local heavyweight scene.
On his route to becoming SA and ABU heavyweight champion in 2022, Josh’s 16 professional fights show an impressive list of opponents, including all SA No1 contenders and all SA champions, as well as a former IBO World Youth Champion since his first fight in 2017.
Winning the African and SA titles within five years of first stepping into a boxing ring, having had no amateur experience, is no easy feat.
Every fight has meant gaining more experience, and Josh is more than ready to face Potgieter in Booysens on Saturday, 9 December on Larry Wainstein's Boxing5 Promotions bill, Ringside Rumble.
“We have reset our approach back to the Josh we know," said his coach and father, Corrie Pretorius.
“We've realised that Josh needed to figure out his own style, and we worked on that.
“There's a beast in there that wants to come out, and our approach and training camp have been great.
“There's no doubt we will once again be able to mount a challenge for the belts after this fight.”
The fight will be streamed on VisionView TV, on the undercard for the international junior bantamweight bout between SA’s Sikho Nqothole and Namibian Jonas Matheus.
But it could well be the fight of the night if Josh’s famed points-scoring left jab and thunderous right hook find their mark.