Ilinge-born boxer and African Boxing Union SADC Region light-heavyweight Champion Luvuyo ‘Black Eagle’ Sizani is going to fight against Russian boxer Artysh Lopsan in Russia next month after signing a contract recently.
Sizani’s trainer and manager Baba Makala confirmed the news that he will be fighting in Russia for the first time when he faces Lopsan on Friday, September 30, in a 10-round international fight.
The fight comes just after ‘Black Eagle’ defended his ABU title successfully last month in Johannesburg, beating Congolese Jackson Masamba by 98 points.
Makala said they have already started preparing for the fight and watched Lopsan fights. He said they have a plan to execute the mission to beat the Russian.
“We watched his fights on YouTube and he is a bit slower than Luvuyo but he is dangerous and powerful. We heard that he is an up-and-coming, promising boxer in Russia, but we are ready to fight him. We had a misunderstanding during the negotiations with them over weight but we reached an agreement,” said Masala.
The former Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Sizani is the only boxer rated in the South African light-heavyweight division which resulted in him struggling to get opponents. He has won all his six fights with three of those ending in knockouts.
His opponent, Lopsan has eight fights under his belt and has only lost once in his career. He suffered the loss in his fourth professional fight in 2020 against his compatriot Pavel Silyagin, who is unbeaten in 11 bouts.
The unbeaten 27-year-old Ilinge-born Sizani said he is happy to fight again in less than three months after defending his title in Johannesburg.
“This is a great opportunity for us because this is the first time I will be fighting in Europe. I have been training hard in the past few weeks and I feel in excellent physical condition. I am very happy and motivated because it will be a very special fight,” said Sizani.
