WBA Pan-African and Zimbabwe heavyweight champion Thamsanqa Dube left the country for South Africa on Tuesday for the non-title heavyweight fight against Flo Simba at Emperor’s Palace, Kempton Park, next Monday night.
Speaking to NewsDay Sport on Tuesday before leaving for the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport, where he was due to fly on South African Airways with coach Philip “Striker” Ndlovu, Dube said he was anticipating a tough fight against Simba.
“I have been training hard and trying to shed a bit of weight. This is going to be a tough fight and I cannot underrate Flo whom I have never seen fighting. I have no professional boxers who have been assisting me and I have no sponsors, but I guess the guy is a tough fighter with good training facilities. But I am ready for the fight. We will see to it when we get to the ring. I believe in action and not talking too much,” Dube said.
The eight-round fight will be beamed live on SuperSport.
Dube, who bemoans ring rust on his part, was last on the international scene when he beat Jack Ells in South Africa in 2009 to claim the WBA Pan-African Championship title.
He has 12 wins and two losses on the professional scene having defeated boxers who include Zambian Joseph “Ramos” Phiri in 2006 and locals Smart Nkomo, retired Gardner Ndingwa and Arigoma Chiponda.
In June this year, he beat Chiponda for the sixth time at the Bulawayo Large City Hall in the first round in a bout that was scheduled for six rounds. Striker was on Tuesday confident Dube would win the fight against Simba.
“We are ready. The training has been adequate. He (Dube) has been having a road run once a day and one training session in the morning since the day we signed the contract for the fight in mid-July,” Ndlovu said.
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Simba, who originally hails from the Democratic Republic of Congo, lost to Francois Botha in June at Emperor’s Palace.
Reports from South Africa say Hekkie Budler, Joey Stiglingh and Thabiso Mchunu will also feature on the Golden Gloves Promotions bill on Monday night.
