Snamiso Ntuli from Ladysmith says lack of experience was his undoing during his first fight against South African middleweight champion John Bopape in May 2018.
Bopape was engaging in his ninth fight when he defeated Ntuli, who was only fighting in his third professional bout.
Now Ntuli gets an opportunity to avenge the 2018 defeat as he challenges Bopape at the Dlamini Hall in Soweto on Sunday, 31 July.
“He defeated me the first time we met. I was still new in the professional ranks at the time and I made a lot of mistakes during that fight. But things have changed now,” Ntuli said.
Bopape from Alexandra in Johannesburg stopped Ntuli in the third round during the first fight, which was held at the Msane Hall in Mtubatuba.
Ntuli said that he will be out to defend the dignity of KwaZulu-Natal boxing after Bopape stopped Nkululeko Mhlongo from Eshowe to win the SA title at the Mangaung Indoor Centre, Bloemfontein, in April.
“I’m going to surprise him. Our dignity as the KwaZulu-Natal province is at stake. He beat Mhlongo, who was making his first defence of the title. I want to make sure that he also loses the title while trying to make a successful first defence,” Ntuli said.
