Mzonke ”Rose of Khayelitsha” Fana is expected to bloom when he takes on Ukrainian, Yuri Voronin, in front of his home fans at Oliver Tambo hall in the Western Cape on Friday night.
The South African who will enjoy territorial ground, will attempt the third defence of his WBC International junior lightweight belt.
In his two previous defences against Ghanaian Eric Odumasi and Hungarian Laszlo Bognar, Fana stopped the challengers dead in their tracks.
The champion decked both Odumasi and Bognar in 10 and five rounds respectively.
Fana has not boxed on home turf for some time now and it is for this reason that promoter Branco Milenkovic has dubbed their bout in Cape Town the ”Home Coming”.
The fight, which was almost called off due to the scarcity of willing opponents to face the devastating South African, will be the main contest in the Branco Universal Production bill.
Both Fana and Voronin were declared fit and healthy for their battle at the pre-fight medical examinations on Monday.
Fana tipped the scales at 59,00kg while Voronin registered 59,04kg with the required limit being 58,97kgs.
The local boxer, who is rated fifth in the WBC rankings, is at a stage of his career where he cannot afford to lose, especially if he entertains ideas of challenging Sirimongkol Singmanassuk for the more recognised WBC title.
But Fana’s vast experienced should see him through against his lesser experienced opponent.
The local fighter holds the South African title which he has defended seven times and boasts an overall record of 18 wins and two losses.
In comparison, Voronin, the WBO Asian Pacific champion from Odessa, has only eight wins and a loss.
However, Milenkovic, has warned that Fana should write Voronin off at his own peril.
”The pre-fight assessments suggest that both boxers are equally as fit and well conditioned and based on that, we expect a top calibre contest on Friday night,” said Milenkovic.
The bout will be broadcast live by SABC TopSport on Blow by Blow from 10pm. – Sapa