SA fans will get to see Mchunu-Makabu fight on TV after all

Local boxing fans will get to see the highly anticipated rematch between Thabiso Mchunu and WBC cruiserweight champion Junior Makabu live on TV after all, from 5am on Sunday.

In an 11th-hour deal with Don King Productions, SuperSport secured the rights to beam the two main bouts from the card in Warren, Ohio.

Unbeaten American Trevor Bryan defends his version of the WBA heavyweight title against countryman Jonathan Guidry, who is also undefeated but lowly rated.

The main contest will be in the 91kg division where Mchunu bids to become only the third South African to win a WBC belt after Sugar Boy Malinga and Dingaan Thobela, who both lifted the super-middleweight crown. Malinga did it twice, in 1996 and again in 1997, while Thobela’s success was in 2000. 

The two fighters, who both train in Johannesburg, delivered a fascinating tussle in 2015 in an eliminator for the belt Makabu of the DRC now holds.

Mchunu was giving Makabu a boxing lesson, and even had him in trouble in the early rounds, before he gassed and was knocked out in the 11th round while leading on two of the three scorecards.

Makabu challenged Tony Bellew for the title in Liverpool a year later and was stopped in the third round.

But after resurrecting his career with trainer Damien Durandt he worked his way back into contention before winning the vacant WBC crown in 2019.

Mchunu suffered three further losses after Makabu, first to Oleksandr Usyk, who went on to unify the cruiserweight division before stepping up to heavyweight to dethrone Anthony Joshua last year. He was also beaten by Constantin Bejenaru in 2017 and the year after by Tommy Oosthuizen, though he avenged that loss and notched up three more victories to earn his shot.

This is one of those fights where fans are split in their predictions, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages facing each boxer.

For SA boxing, an Mchunu triumph will add some much-needed muscle to the sport in the country, which hasn’t had a bona fide world champion since Moruti Mthalane, who like Mchunu hails from the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, lost his IBF flyweight title.

The broadcast on DStv channel 210 starts at 5am.