By Mark Vester
Johannesburg - According to his trainer Nic Durandt, once-beaten Silence Mabuza is hungry for revenge against IBF bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez. The two men met last November, in a fught won by Marquez by way of 4th round TKO, due to a severe cut on Mabuza.
Mabuza was knocked down for the first time in his career in the first round, but battled back before the fight was called. The camp of Mazbuza protested the TKO loss, stating that the fight should have been called a technical draw because his cut was caused by a clash of heads. But, the ref had called the cut as being sustained a result of a punch, which gave Marquez the big win.
An elimination bout was set against Ricardo Vargas, which Mabuza won to set up the rematch with Marquez. Durandt said that Mabuza has given up a lot of money to make the fight happen, including turning down other title shots, and will have no excuses if he loses.
"He sacrificed a lot financially in order to fight Marquez. Mabuza was prepared to take the short end of the stick in order to get this fight," Durandt says.
The rematch takes place this Saturday, at the MontBleu Resort Casino in Lake Tahoe in Nevada, and will be televised by Showtime.
