Beaven Sibanda has turned down an opportunity to challenge reigning International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight champion Pedro Taduran from the Philippines.
With the date already set for Saturday, 4 April in California, United States of America (USA), Sibanda’s manager Marco Luis has revealed that they turned down the offer as his boxer was not going to be fit by the fight date.
Luis explained that they declined the offer to challenge Taduran because Sibanda is still undergoing rehabilitation following his recovery from an Achilles injury he picked up while he was preparing for a fight against Filipino boxer Joey Canoy last year.
“We are unfortunately not taking the fight in California. Beaven’s rehabilitation is almost complete, but we won’t have enough time to get ready for the fight. Right now, Beaven can’t be ready. The Achilles injury was very serious. We don’t have enough time to get him ready that’s why we declined the fight, which is sad,” Luis said.
“Him being 24 years old, probably one of the biggest prospects in African boxing, if not thee biggest prospect. We have communicated with the IBF that he’s still on medical suspension. His ranking will be held by the IBF, which is a good thing.”
Luis added that they are looking at having a fight for the Harare-born Sibanda, who is the current IBF International minimumweight champion, probably in May. Sibanda won the IBF International minimumweight title after he stopped Richard Garde from the Philippines in the fifth round last July.
“We focus on proper rehabilitation. We might do a fight in May. That gives us an extra four to six weeks for him to get ready and get him back. We want to make sure that he’s 1000 percent ready,” Luis remarked.
Sibanda is rated fourth by the World Boxing Council (WBC), seventh in the IBF ratings and 12th in the World Boxing Organisation (WBO). He has nine wins with three knockouts and a loss. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
