Press Release 6y

Visser and Machimane in Heavyweight title bout

Kalakoda Promotions and Kwesé Sports' Friday Fight Nights series returns to South Africa this month as 'Big Hitters' rolls into the Emerald Casino in Vanderbijlpark, Johannesburg on 23 February.

The event is headlined by the SA Heavyweight Title, which sees both a potential changing of the guard and a chance to reinvigorate interest in a division that has been somewhat dormant.

Current champion Osbourne Machimane, who has shared the ring with the likes of David Price and Corrie Sanders, takes on the challenge from number one contender Ruann Visser.

Visser and Machimane are former stable mates and sparring partners, but this match-up promises to be an all-out war for the right to be the boss of the South Africa Heavyweight division.

"Outside the ring we are friends, but when that bells goes we will go to war. I am in the shape of my life ... this is my time," Visser says.

Visser has twice been invited to the Klitschko Camp as a sparring partner, where he caught the eye of former Team Klitschko trainer and world renown Heavyweight specialist James Ali Basheer. The impression was such that Basheer has since relocated and based himself in Meyerton on the Visser Farm, where he trains both Visser and Ukrainian Heavyweight prospect Vlad Sirenko.

"What I saw in Ruann excited me; he is a great student of the game and his willingness to learn is refreshing. He has all the attributes that can make this kid go all the way," Basheer says.

The co-main event sees a WBC Silver Youth Middleweight Title contested by Croatian prospect Luka Pupek and Tanzania's Aziz Mponda.

Catch the event live on Soweto TV, Kwesé Free Sports, Kwesé Sports 1, Facebook Live and on the Kwesé Mobile App.

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