By Monwabisi Jimlongo
Boxing fans are in for a treat when star East London pugilist Sivenathi ‘Special One’ Nontshinga squares up against Filipino opponent Christian ‘The Bomb’ Araneta if the pre-fight talk from both camps is anything to go by.
Nontshinga is confident that his hand will be raised after he has fought against Araneta whom he meets in an International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-flyweight elimination bout on Sunday, 25 April.
Araneta’s trainer Julius Erving Junco is equally confident about his boxer winning this bout and then get a chance to challenge reigning IBF junior-flyweight champion Felix Alvarado from Nicaragua.
“I have always been an underdog. I saw that he said I lack experience. All I can say is that I will come up with a top notch performance and I will win this fight,” a confident Nontshinga said in an interview with Pow Salud on Powcast Sports.
Speaking to The Manila Times, Junco said that Nontshinga’s perfect record does not bother them at all. In fact, Junco said that Nontshinga has fought against weak opponents thus he is still unbeaten.
“We are not bothered, there are levels to it. No disrespect to his opponents, but those are class B fighters. Fighting Christian is another level,” Junco told The Manila Times.
“We have the edge when it comes to experience and this is our second time to fight for the eliminator. I believe we are way ahead when it comes to skill set and experience.”
This is going to be Araneta’s second fight outside his home country. He lost to Mexican boxer Daniel Valladares in Mexico in 2019.
Nontshinga, 22, will go to this duel with a perfect record of nine wins with all fights being stoppages while 25-year-old Araneta has 19 wins with 15 knockouts and a loss.
