With Juan ‘JJ’ Alberts’ eighth professional fight just around the corner, his promoter Rodney Berman is quite impressed with how the unbeaten boxer has gone about doing his job inside the ring since his professional debut in August last year.
And Berman, the Golden Gloves managing director, strongly believes that the best of Alberts is yet to come.
“His progresss fight-to-fight has been remarkable and his dedication is brilliant. Whilst early days, save to say we are very excited with the potential he shows,” Berman said.
With Michael Pirotton being his next opponent, Alberts has admitted that the Belgian boxer is a closed book to him. Alberts is set to trade leather with Pirotton at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, on Saturday, 29 November.
“I don’t know much about my opponent. I only know that he’s from Belgium and has never been knocked out,” Alberts, who has a professional record of six wins and a draw, remarked.
On whether he goes for stoppages in each an every fight since he has stopped five of his seven opponents, Alberts said: “Knockouts just happen if I get a split second of a chance. I will knock the guy if a chance comes.”
With him currently rated number four by Boxing South Africa (BSA), Alberts, who is trained by former SA super-middleweight champion Ryno Liebenberg, has made it clear that he has no interest in challenging for the South African heavyweight title held by champion Chris Thompson.
“I’m not interested in the South African title. We don’t want to be local, we want to go international. That’s why I want a rematch with Matias da Pinha next year because I’m still not happy that I drew with him in May,” Alberts said. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
