Kruger looks ahead to huge fight
EFC Africa 27 is around the corner, on Thursday, February 27, but there is another fight at EFC Africa 28 that has fight fans’ tongues wagging.
It’s the long-awaited middleweight title duel between JP Kruger, who is trained and managed by Xtreme Kickboxing Technologies Pro League, which is run by Brakpan’s Raymond “The Whip” Phillips and James Read.
Kruger earned his number one contender position from a seemingly impossible situation against Tumelo Maputha, at EFC Africa 22, last year. In that fight Maputha had delivered a ground and pound that seemed certain to see the curtain fall on Kruger’s night, but the XKT fighter was not prepared to let that happen, though, and produced a sudden arm bar that finished the fighter known as “The Truck”, by submission, 4:19 into the first round.
Now, with Kruger’s title shot against Gareth “Soldierboy” McLellan coming up on March 27, at the Coca Cola Dome, the fighter known as “Tinkerbell” has spoken about this eagerly anticipated challenge.
“This is one of the highlights of my career and probably the biggest fight for me so far,” he said.
“I have a brilliant opponent who I am going against. “He has made EFC Africa history by taking the middleweight title two times.” Kruger added that he has been training for an excellent all-round fighter – he knows wrestling, he knows boxing, he knows kickboxing and Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, so this is not just a fight you take likely.
“You have to prepare for everything and be better than him in every discipline,” he said.
“The guy who wants it the most will win it.”
When asked what his attitude will be when he steps into the hexagon to take on McLellan, Tinkerbell said: “My camp and I only talk about winning.
“Gareth is a very cool guy, but we’re not there to bake cookies.”
Kruger said his preparation has included a three-week training camp in Thailand, at the renowned Tiger Muay Thai.
“I have been working hard on my wrestling and now I’m back here working on all the disciplines,” he explained.
“XKT Pro League has been doing great work by hiring the best of the best, specialists in their area, to train me.”
When quizzed on why people should go out and watch the fight, he said: “This is going to be a very exciting fight between two middleweights.
“I believe that the middleweight division is the strongest division.
“It’s your fast guys with knockout power and ability.
“You don’t need to trash talk to hype this fight; when people say Tinkerbell is going to take on Soldierboy, you just don’t need to hype it.”
