South Africa’s super middleweight boxing champion, Cowin Ray from Pretoria, will have the opportunity to defend his national title for a second time this coming Saturday.

On Saturday 1 October, TLB Boxing Promotions will present a follow-up to their hugely successful Celeb City boxing tournament, which took place at Sun City earlier this year.

The main attraction of the tournament, which will mix professional boxing with a celebrity showdown, is the event in which DJ and musician Cassper Nyovest will fight against another DJ and hip-hop artist Priddy Ugly.

However, the main professional bout on the fight card will feature serious boxing business, as Ray will then defend his SA title against Asemahle Wellem from the Eastern Cape, who has made huge strides in just three professional fights.

Ray, who is undefeated after eight fights as a professional boxer, captured the SA title exactly a year ago on September 25 last year in Kempton Park, when he forced Frank Rodrigues to surrender in the ninth round of their title fight.

This second edition of the tournament will take place on Saturday in the Sun Arena at Menlyn Maine, Pretoria. According to Joyce Kungwane of TLB Boxing Promotions, the decision was made to move away from Sun City to give the Gauteng public a chance to experience all the action.

Ray’s coach, Sebastiaan Rothmann, told Rekord that they are grateful for the opportunity to get him back in action. He says opportunities were scarce for professional boxers during the period of Covid restrictions and this also affected his boxer’s future plans.

Rothmann explained that while an opportunity to fight for a world title is not an immediate goal right now, he wants to keep his boxer as sharp as possible if greater opportunities arise. He would also like to offer Ray the chance to gain as much experience as possible against hungry young boxers. This experience could prove valuable later in Ray’s career, Rothmann explained.

Other serious boxers who will be in action at the tournament at Menlyn Maine are Akani Sambo and Layten Gloss. After that, a women’s fight will also take place when Bukiwe Nonina will fight against Zimbabwean Cecilia Pitsani in the junior lightweight division.

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