Corrie Sanders’s mission to regain a slice of the world heavyweight boxing title has suffered a major blow after he hurt his hand during his bout against Brazilian Daniel Bispo at Emperors Palace outside Johannesburg at the weekend.
Sanders hurt his left hand in the first round, forcing him to fight virtually with one hand for the full 10 rounds. Despite being handicapped he still managed to pull off a victory, with all the judges scoring the fight 100-90 in his favour.
Due to his injury, however, his plan of challenging for a world title in 18 months’ time has taken a knock.
Sanders, who at 41 years is trying to fight his way back to a world title challenge, is waiting for a doctor’s report to inform him about the extent of his injury. His bout scheduled for June 23, against an opponent yet to be named in the United States, has been cancelled.
”That bout is definitely off because Corrie will be forced to lay off training for a couple of weeks,” said trainer Harold Volbrecht.
He lauded Sanders for fighting through injury against Bispo. ”Other fighters would have quit, but he wanted to fight on and he did not disgrace himself,” he said.
Sanders, a former WBU and WBO heavyweight champion, is back in the ring to exploit the messy heavyweight division and to overcome his dire financial situation.
”Corrie is broke, so he has to fight again at his age,” Volbrecht revealed.
Due to Sanders’s age, Volbrecht admitted that the southpaw fighter will face many challenges, and having to deal with injuries is one. The scarcity of heavyweight fighters in the country is another setback as Sanders is struggling to get sparring partners of his size.
”Corrie went to that fight without having a sparring session,” Volbrecht said. ”Although hurting his hand was bad, on the flip side it helped him get real action because he had not fought for two years.” — Sapa