Golden Gloves

South Africa’s 25-year-old Tshifhiwa “The Atomic Spider” Munyai (20-1-1, with 10 knockouts) is hurriedly preparing to jet out of the country to fight Mexico’s Cristian Esquivel (19-2-0, with 14 knockouts) for the WBC Silver world bantamweight title on August 7 in the “Arena Mexico” in Mexico City..

The WBC Silver world championship belt is considered the next best thing to winning the WBC Gold world title and ideally positions the winner of the forthcoming bout to challenge for the even more prestigious Gold world title belt.

“The invitation to have Munyai fight for the title came as a complete surprise, especially considering he (Munyai) fought last Wednesday night when he demolished Ghana’s Prosper Ankrah in the second round of their slated 12-round match at Emperors Palace” said Golden Gloves Promoter Rodney Berman. Already the WBA International bantamweight champion, Munyai was immediately informed of the offer and after consultation with his trainer Elias Tshabalala, the pair agreed that the offer was too good to turn down.

Presently ranked #6 by the WBC, Munyai and his braintrust will be staying at the Hotel Geneve in Mexico City and it’s understood that Berman has asked veteran trainer Harold Volbrecht to accompany them.

“The invitation for Munyai to fight Esquivel was made to us by Boxeo De Gala’s Dr Fausto Navarro and naturally we’re all extremely excited about the Atomic Spider boxing in a country like Mexico” added Berman.

When this scribe spoke to Tshabalala regarding the contest, he was naturally bubbling with enthusiasm. “This is an incredible opportunity for Tshifhiwa to showcase his talents in the land of the ‘Eagle and the Snake’ and I’ve no doubt that he’ll make South Africa proud. That he fought only last week is certainly in our favour and though this guy Esquivel has impressive knockout statistics he’s never faced a boxer with Tshifhiwa’s diversity of strengths. My man can box at long range or stand toe-to-toe and fight in the trenches and his jab is one of the best in the business. The way we see it this contest is also a giant step in gaining a solid foothold in the independent world ratings” said Tshabalala.

Mind you, the hard-punching Esquivel, who is nicknamed “Italiano” is clearly a fearsome hitting competitor and at age 23 is being freely tipped in his native Mexico as a future world champion.

Berman concluded by saying; “We realise only too well that Munyai has an awesome task on his hands but the man is a warrior and he’s confident of returning home with the WBC Silver world title belt strapped firmly around his waste”.