A lot was said after Ricardo ‘Magic Man’ Malajika withdrew from an International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-bantamweight elimination bout against Sikho ‘Sequence’ Nqothole, however, what fight fans didn’t understand or know was that the Manny Fernandes-trained boxer was taking another direction.
That direction has taken Malajika to a World Boxing Council (WBC) junior-bantamweight eliminator against Mexican boxer Yahir Alan Frank Verdugo. And Golden Gloves has set Saturday, 11 July, at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, as the day when the two boxers would trade leather.
Confirming the latest developments Golden Gloves managing director Rodney Berman said: “It’s a golden period for South African boxing, a WBC festival of boxing on home soil.”
In a letter to Berman, WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán to Berman said: ” The WBC is hereby confirming sanctioning of the elimination bout of the Malajika vs Frank fight for July 11 in South Africa.”
Rated eighth by the WBC, Frank from Hermosillo, Sonora, in Mexico, had his last fight when he stopped his compatriot Argi Eliel Cortes Sánchez in the first round in Tijuana five months ago.
The 23-year-old Frank has won 18 times with 13 of those wins coming from stoppages. His only loss was against Filipino boxer Jayr Raquinel in a WBC Continentas Americas junior-bantamweight title contest in October 2024. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
