It’s going to be more like entering the lion’s den when unbeaten Cape Town boxer Lunga Sitemela challenges World Boxing Council (WBC) International junior-ligtweight champion Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov from Tajikistan in Russia on Saturday, 27 March.
Yaqubov, who is a southpaw, is unbeaten in 16 fights with nine knockouts while Sitemela has won all his 13 fights with seven of those being stoppages.
This fight is going to be held at the RCC Boxing Academy, Ekaterinburg, Russia. This is the same venue where a number of South African boxers failed to win their fights.
This tournament, which is going to be promoted by German Titov’s RCC Boxing Promotions, is also going to feature a WBC Silver cruiserweight clash between South African boxer Thabiso Mchunu, 33, and 29-year-old Evgeny Titschenko from Russia.
Stimela has not fought since August 2019 while Yaqubov last fought in March 2020. Sitemela was due to clash with Azinga Fuzile last December, but the fight was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.