TRAINER TO MISS BOUT
WILLBEFORCE Shihepo will not be disadvantaged by being without his regular trainer in his corner at Emperors Palace, Ekurhuleni, on Saturday when he faces Johnny Muller for the vacant WBC Silver International light-heavyweight title.
Trainer and promoter Nestor Tobias cannot make the trip because the tournament was postponed earlier and will be staging another event in Namibia.
“I will remain behind at home [in Namibia] as I will also be staging a boxing tournament on the same evening, ” explained Tobias yesterday.
“My tournament was already scheduled when Golden Gloves post- poned theirs from February 15 to March 1.”
Tobias said Shihepo would have equally competent cornermen when he took on the fearless Muller for a title that was vacated by Ryno Liebenberg.
“The beauty is that Shihepo will not spend the whole evening inside the ring. He will knock Johnny clean out,” vowed Tobias.
Shihepo, 31, currently holds the WBO Africa super middleweight belt.
“Willbeforce has done everything any boxer challenging for a title would do. He is waiting for Saturday to add the WBC Silver belt to his collection,” said Tobias about his charge who gave Germans a scare last year before he controversially lost on points to Arthur Abraham in a WBO Inter-Continental super-middleweight title bout.
Shihepo, with legs like tree trunks and arms that can bring down the pillars of a temple, came back strong four months later and knocked out Daniel Wanyoni in the sixth round for the WBO Africa title.
The Muller-Shihepo match-up will form part of Golden Gloves ’ African Explosion tournament.
Topping the bill will be WBA and IBO minimum-weight champion Hekkie Budler in defence of his belts against Columbian Karluis Diaz.
In another title fight, Liebenberg will oppose Joey Vegas from Uganda for the vacant WBC International lightweight belt.
The tournament will be televised live by SuperSport from 8pm.