Veteran up against Berna
MDANTSANE veteran Simpiwe Vetyeka will take a “stay busy” fight – which may turn out to be risky one – later this month.
In a bid to stay active, the 36year-old will face Hungarian knockout specialist, David Berna, at Complexe Sportif Mohammed V, Casablanca in Morocco on February 18.
Vetyeka will be making a comeback after a 10-months absence, following his victory over Japanese boxer, Tsuyoshi Tameda, in April, when he fought under the Sijuta Promotions banner and was being steered towards a world title shot.
However, Vetyeka and Sijuta had a fallout stemming from his non-payment which opened the way for him to enlist the services of Irish manager Gary Hyde.
After a fight against WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jnr fell by the wayside, Vetyeka and his camp decided to secure a “stay busy” fight with an opportunity arising in Morocco, where Hyde has signed amateur star Mohammed Rabbi.
Rabii will be making his professional debut against an opponent yet to be determined.
However, interest in SA will be focused on Vetyeka who seems to be struggling to get another world title shot.
Vetyeka proved his world title credentials when he upset Indonesian legend, Chris John, to seize the WBA featherweight crown in 2013 but lost it six months later to Filipino, Nonito Donaire, in controversial circumstances. Since then he has been chasing an opportunity to have another crack at world honours which influenced him to sign with Hyde. Now he has his wish, although the next assignment might prove risky as he takes on an unbeaten knockout artist from Hungary. Berna will come into the fight with an unblemished record of eight knockouts in as many fights. The 26-yearold has flattened everyone in front of him, although, it must be said he has never fought an experienced boxer like Vetyeka.
Berna’s foes have either faced him with a non-winning fight record or a handful of losses.
However, with Vetyeka being trained by a new technical team from the UK anything can be expected from the fight.
Vetyeka’s SA trainer, Boy Boy Mpulampula, confirmed he will not be part of the technical team.
“I want to clarify that Vetyeka and I are not in anyway at loggerheads but as a mature boxer he felt that he should use people from the UK to prepare for this fight,” Mpulampula said. While Vetyeka proved against Tameda that he was still a world beater, he took a couple of shots from the youngster to spark concerns that maybe “Father Time” was beginning to creep up on him. But Mpulampula allayed fears of an upset, emphasising that Vetyeka was experienced and mature enough to understand the importance of the fight.
“I really think he will be prepared,” he said.
A loss for Vetyeka would almost end his world title aspirations, although he managed to bounce back and to win a major world honour after unheralded Klaas Mboyane scored an upset victory against him, in one of his three losses in 32 bouts.