Liebenberg set for an invasion of Europe
PLANS ARE afoot to have reigning South African light heavyweight champion Ryno Liebenberg take on the unbeaten Swede Erik Skoglund at a yet to be confirmed venue in Europe in April.
This was revealed by Liebenberg promoter Rodney Berman of Golden Gloves Promotion (GGP) who said he was in discussion with Skoglund’s promoters Sauerland Events of Germany regarding the exact date and venue.
Berman has a healthy working relationship with Sauerland Events, that has seen the two heavyweight promoters swap fighters on their respective cards.
Among the fighters that have already benefited from the deal include Ghana-born lightweight contender Richard Commey who visited the country to knock out Thompson Mokwana in seven rounds in March last year while GGP’s star Kevin Lerena travelled to Denmark to beat Igor Pylypenko in the same month.
But the deal nearly suffered a setback when Sauerland-promoted boxer Mateusz Masternak was given a raw deal in a GGP promoted show last June.
This when the Pole was clearly robbed against Johnny Muller in their cruiserweight clash sparking Berman to condemn the judges and he demanded the outcome be reversed.
But the pact remains intact with Roman Balaev, who is promoted by Sauerland, set to fight Paul Kamanga at Emperors Palace on March 12.
And Liebenberg, who is fresh from winning the SA title last September, is expected to go the other way in what he sees as an opportunity to breath new life into his career after two losses.
“This will be a fantastic opportunity for Ryno to get back to title contention if he wins this fight,” said Berman.
Liebenberg, who was stopped by Canadian- based Colombian Eleider Alvarez in seven rounds in Monte Carlo to surrender his WBC silver title before going down to compatriot Thomas Oosthuizen in an IBO title challenge, wants to give it one more try to get onto the world stage and sees the IBF third rated Skoglund as the perfect springboard.
“I learnt a lot from my fight against Alvarez and I am now confident of giving a much better performance against Skoglund,” he said.
Liebenberg will need to fast track his career because at 31 years old, age is not on his side even though he can be described as a young veteran having started boxing very late.
His two defeats by Oosthuizen and Alvarez remain the only blemishes in his 19-fight record and he will take solace from the fact that after beating him, Alvarez went on to beat another SA- based boxer Isaac Chilemba and is now scheduled to challenge WBC champion Adonis Stevenson.
Berman says his charge has a good chance of pulling off the victory given his experience compared to the 24-year-old Swede.
Despite his age the Swede has made strides in international boxing, having beaten among others former world champion Glen Johnson as well as Derek Edwards who is known as the man whoknocked out current WBC super middleweight champion Bodou Jack.