By Monwabisi Jimlongo
There is nothing that Cape Town boxer Abdul-Aziz Kunert wants to do more than stepping into the ring and show Asanda Gingqi who’s the boss in the South African featherweight division.
Kunert is scheduled to square up against Gingqi in a vacant SA featherweight title contest. And he insists that he cannot wait to go toe-to-toe with Gingqi.
“I’m training very hard here in Cape Town. I do road work and then go to Matthew Leisching’s gym in the Cape Town CBD. I came back to Cape Town when my trainer Colin Nathan was stuck in Russia,” Kunert revealed.
Nathan, who is the chief trainer at Hot Box Gym in Johannesburg, spent just over four weeks receiving treatment at a Russian hospital after he tested positive for COVID-19 before his boxer Ryno Liebenberg’s fight against Russian boxer Fedor Chudinov in June.
“I spoke to Colin yesterday (Wednesday) and I will probably return to Johannesburg next week so that we can continue preparing for Gingqi,” Kunert said.
Kunert is not concerned about where his fight against Gingqi could be held. Getting into the ring and face Gingqi is the most important thing to him.
“I’m up for the challenge. Everyone is beatable and this fight is going to bring the best out of me,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter where the fight is held because I know I’m going to win it. I can even go to East London and beat Gingqi. I can even knock him out in East London.”
The 27-year-old Kunert has not laced his gloves since he stopped Mfusi Maxhayi in December 2019.
“It’s frustrating as it is almost two years since I last fought. I understand that the pandemic has disrupted everyone’s plans and livelihood,” he said.
This fight is going to pit two unbeaten boxers against each other with Kunert having won all his 10 fights with two of them via the short distance. On the other hand, Gingqi has stopped five of his six victims.
