It’s going to be a massive fight for South African boxer Phumelela ‘The Truth’ Cafu as he takes on Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez from the United States of America (USA) in July.
At stake will be Cafu’s World Boxing Organisation (WBO) junior-bantamweight crown as well as Rodriguez’s World Boxing Council (WBC) and Ring Magazine titles.
And according to Colin ‘Nomakanjani’ Nathan, who trains and manages the former South African junior-bantamweight champion, the fight against Rodriguez is going to be held in Star Frisco in Dallas, Texas, USA, on Sunday, 20 July, South African time.
“It took us four weeks to conclude this mega fight. This is a great opportunity for South African boxing and there was no way that we would turn down this kind of an opportunity,” Nathan said.
Cafu said about the fight: “Yeah, I was surprised because there were rumours on social media about the fight happening, and when I asked ‘Paps’ (Colin) about it, he said that Bam’s team hadn’t reached out yet, this was several weeks ago. So I took that out of my head and decided to focus on my home defence. But this is awesome because once again I get to step in with an elite fighter and prove the world wrong once again, showing people that I’m also an elite fighter.
“I’ve always wanted to fight him because people think he is the bogeyman of the division and they say he is unbeatable, but I’ll prove to the people that no one is unbeatable. Beating him will put me in the pound-for-pound list and I will be king of the division.”
Boxing 5 chief executive officer Larry Wainstein said: “Obviously, we were getting ready to do Phumelela’s homecoming here at Carnival City in Gauteng, but when Colin said that he was in negotiations with Matchroom to get this fight done for the unification, that was an opportunity that could never be turned down.
“I am so proud and happy for Cafu and equally for the work that NO DOUBT Management and Boxing 5 do to secure amazing and life-changing opportunities for our fighters. It does not get bigger than this, and only someone who understands boxing will understand.”
Cafu, who has 11 victories with eight knockouts and three draws, won the WBO crown after he registered a split decision victory over Japanese four-weight division champion Kosei Tanaka in Japan last October.
Menwhile, the 25-year-old Rodriguez from San Antonio in Texas, USA, is unbeaten, having won all his 21 fights with 14 of those wins coming from stoppages. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
