DEON POTGIETER, Johannesburg | Thursday 1.30pm.
NAMIBIA’S World Boxing Organisation (WBO) junior middleweight world champion Harry Simon finds himself in an enviable position.
American television giant HBO and British television channel ShowTime are involved in a tug of war over where Simon’s next defence will take place.
Simon is scheduled to meet former world champion Bronco McKart in April. ShowTime wants the fight to be staged in England, where he beat Kevin Leushing in May last year, while HBO want the fight to take place in McKart’s hometown in Michigan, in the United States.
HBO are touting the fight as an eliminator as the winner will face International Boxing Federation kingpin Fernando Vargas. “Simon will beat McKart,” says fight analyst Terry Pettifer, “but Vargas is another story. He’ll really have to prove his worth in that fight.”
Simon won the WBO title in a sensational battle with Ronald “Winky” Wright in South Africa in August 1998 and then defended it against Leushing.
He has since relocated to Britain and is now in reach of super-stardom.
A win over McKart, who fought four times last year, would open the door for not only a match with Vargas, who is rated the best in the division, but also the likes of Felix Trinidad.