Award-winning boxing manager Colleen McAusland is open to a showdown between her charge, newly crowned African Boxing Union (ABU) middleweight champion Donjuan van Heerden and SA and ABU SADC holder Phikelelani “Stinger” Khumalo.
That will be a cracker of a fight between two left-handers, with the winner taking all the belts on offer.
“Iron Dragon”, which is Van Heerden’s ring name, won the ABU belt on Saturday evening, and is now in the mandatory position to challenge Khumalo for the national title. “We want the fight against Khumalo,” said McAusland yesterday.
Van Heerden – whose corner was manned by Arafatt Koch – had been out of the ring since suffering a points loss to Khumalo’s gym mate, Snamiso Ntuli, in the super middleweights in August.
“Donjuan is back and very dangerous,” warned McAusland. “He is a very strong middleweight contender who did not win the BSA 2023 Prospect of the Year award for nothing. His loss (to Ntuli) taught him a lesson that talent does not beat discipline.”