Golden Gloves

IBO Africa lightweight champion Jason “Badman” Bedeman (9-0-2, 7 knockouts) will head the Africa Ring ‘Christmas Cracker’ Box & Dine bill at Emperors Palace’s Theatre of Marcellus on November 30!  The tournament, which will be held in association with Golden Gloves Promotions, is African Ring Promoter Jeff Ellis’ last event for 2009, and promises to be worthy of the Xmas cracker tag that Ellis always attaches to his last bill of the year.

Bedeman’s opponent on the night will be Joseph Modesi, whom he battled to a slam-bang draw in their previous encounter! Ellis confirmed that the bout will be fought over 8 rounds. Also featuring on the fight roster is Grant “The Fireball” Fourie, who’ll be looking to make amends after his thrilling loss to Bedeman, last time out. The Bedeman/Fourie encounter, which was for the vacant IBO lightweight title, was a blistering encounter from the opening round and although Fourie’s erstwhile trainer Colin Nathan tossed in the towel after the Fireball had taken several trips to the canvas, the contest was poised on a knife-edge for most of the preceding seven rounds.

Fourie will be fighting Thulane Mbatha over 6 rounds at the lightweight limit. “Experts will be keenly appraising how well Grant fares in this fight, especially now that his father Louie is coaching him” said Ellis.

Then too, there is a heavyweight bout scheduled for 4 rounds between the constantly improving veteran Stephen Castle and Tyrone Churchill. Castle, who’s already in his mid-thirties, has amazed pundits time after time, and he’ll definitely enter the fray at Emperors Palace as a confirmed favourite. Mind you Churchill, who’s the half-brother of former SA middleweight star Anthony Van Niekerk, comes to fight and this could well be a thrill-a-minute brawl while it lasts.

Also, sensational heavyweight newcomer Flo “The Demolition Man” Simba (1-0) will be having his second outing against an as yet unnamed opponent and Ellis is betting that there’ll be strong support for the South Hills whiz-kid on the night.

“Simba is one of the most exciting fighters that Rodney Berman has signed in years” said Ellis, “and I’m prepared to wager that he’ll become an extraordinary talent over the next two years”.

Unbeaten junior lightweight Joey Stiglingh, who fires leather-encased missiles with venom aforethought, will be in action over 4 rounds as too will trainer Colin Nathan’s other blossoming prospect, Ashley Dlamini. “Stiglingh is a young fighter who bares watching” said Rodney Berman.

Finally, fight fans will be keen to see how Kyle Smith performs in his 4 round junior welterweight bout against an opponent soon to be finalized.

The son of the late former bantamweight star Richard Smith, the good-looking Kyle may well be a junior welterweight to watch and it’s no secret that some experts- Rodney Berman among them, predict he’ll have a glittering future.