BOXING
Deon Potgieter
Harry Simon, the first Namibian to win a boxing world title, is looking to further entrench his name in history by challenging for a world title in a higher weight division. Not only is Simon, the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) junior-middleweight champion, moving up in weight, he’s also moving up in quality.
Simon, who has made four successful defences of the title he won in 1998, will take on former World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion Hassine Cherifi in Puerto Rico on Saturday for the vacant WBO middleweight title.
Cherifi, who hails from Lyons, France, lost a points decision to William Joppy for the World Boxing Association middleweight title in September. Joppy has since lost his crown to Felix Trinidad, who is attempting to become the first universal middleweight world champion since “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler held that honour in the Eighties.
Trinidad meets Bernard Hopkins who holds the International Boxing Federation and WBC versions of the title in September, with the winner to be declared the universal champion. If Simon wins there will be a strong argument against it. Simon, who is undefeated after 21 fights with 17 knockouts, has been after Trinidad for some time and hopes a big win over Cherifi will convince the powers that be to make the match. The Namibian has invited Trinidad to be ringside on the night of the fight. “I not only want to prove that I’m the best in the division,” says Simon, “but the best in the world.”
Philip Ndou is set to explode at Carnival City on Wednesday July 25. The big-punching Ndou faces the toughest test of his career thus far when he takes on Carlos Rios for the WBU super-featherweight world title. Rios comes to the fight with an impressive resume, and Ndou will have his work cut out against the 30 year old Argentine. “The Time-bomb” has never faced a fighter with this level of experience and won’t be able to rely purely on his punching power.
Johannes Maisa takes on Silence Mabuza in a much-talked-about local match on the undercard.