Akani ‘Prime’ Phuzi, the World Boxing Association pan-African cruiserweight champion and number one in the country, is getting ready for his next title fight.
The heavy hitter who trains out of Alan Toweel Boxing Gym in Linden, will fight Chris Thompson for the SA cruiserweight title.
This will be part of the Super 4 Cruiserwight Series at Emperors Palace on 10 October.
“All training is back on track, obviously with Covid-19 precautions in place,” Phuzi’s trainer and gym owner, Alan Toweel said.
“I am only training Akani at the moment as I am still waiting for other tournaments to start taking place. This should happen in November.”
Phuzi has beaten Thompson twice in his career before and Toweel is confident he will do it again.
“However, we are training twice as hard, as we want Chris out of the system. He is an obstacle in our way and we need to move him out,” Toweel added.
“Akani is looking beyond Chris and wants to eventually fight Kevin Lerena for his International Boxing Organisation World Title within the next 18 months.”
During hard lockdown, when no fights were allowed, Toweel’s boxers did most of their training at home.
They would even send videos of themselves training to Toweel for him to assess and provide feedback.
While some boxers used punching bags and some did weight training, Toweel believed that because they could not meet their trainer, shadowboxing was best for them as it worked the correct muscles.
He also encouraged boxers to swim if they had a pool available as this relaxes the body, stretches muscles and increases lung capacity when one holds their breath underwater.
Details: 083 555 4634.
Also read: Boxers keep training https://randburgsun.co.za/413951/boxers-keep-training/
