Golden Gloves

Big men Flo Simba and Francois Botha will both engage in public sparring at Emperors Palace in the next fortnight.

The countdown has started in earnest for the Power and Pride bill at Emperors Palace on June 4.

While tickets are already proving hard to come by, promoter Rodney Berman and the hosts have ramped up the ante by arranging two public sparring sessions for Flo Simba and Francois Botha. These will take place at the casino this Saturday and the next, with times to be confirmed in due course.

The last time this occurred was 10 years ago when Lennox Lewis was in town to defend his heavyweight championship against Hasim Rahman.
The boxers will be available afterwards for fight fans to get their autographs and wish them well.

Berman was also thrilled to announce confirmation that Simba and Tommy Oosthuizen, who fights William Gare, have both been confirmed on the undercard of world middleweight champion Sergio Martinez’s next title defence in the US in October.

This is a massive coup for Golden Gloves, not least because Martinez is one of the most popular fighters in America and the tournament will draw huge attention.
Meanwhile, Berman is awaiting the final date of Simpiwe Vetyeka’s eliminator against Giovani Caro.

“It will definitely be July 2 or 9,” he said.

The winner will earn the right to challenge for WBC super-bantamweight Toshiaki Nishioka’s title.
Vetyeka is unbeaten in his last six fights; Caro in his last eight.