Boxing trainer Sean Smith is relieved after last Friday’s lifting of travel restrictions, which the Joe Biden regime had imposed on Southern African countries because of the COVID-19 variant called Omicron.
Now a way has been opened for travel between South Africa and the United States. Smith and his boxer Thabiso Mchunu will be able to travel to the US for a fight against reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu.
Mchunu challenges Makabu at the Packard Music Hall in Warren, Ohio, US, on Saturday, 29 January (Sunday, 30 January, South African time). The fight is going to be promoted by Don King’s Don King Productions.
“It’s good news. We still gotta get to the Embassy. Hopefully, we will get an appointment here this week. Otherwise, we will apply via Mexico,” Smith said.
Johannesburg-based Smith and Mchunu from KwaXimba in KwaZulu-Natal plan to leave South Africa next weekend.
“The Mexican Embassy has our passports. Hopefully, we will get visas in the next day or so,” Smith remarked.
Meanwhile, the travel restrictions scuppered Sivenathi ‘Special One’ Nontshinga’s chances of fighting for a world title.
Nontshinga was scheduled to face International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-flyweight champion Felix Alvarado at the T & T Centre in San Antonio, Texas, in the US in December.
However, a travel ban by the Biden regime following the discovery of the COVID-19 variant called Omicron in South Africa put paid to Nontshinga’s chances of clashing with the Nicaraguan.
