By Mesuli Zifo
AFTER enduring 19 months of frustrating inactivity, the world has suddenly smiled up to Simpiwe Vetyeka as he is one fight away from challenging for the WBC crown again.
Vetyeka will face off against Mexican Giovani Caro in a WBC junior featherweight title eliminator at San Luis Potosi in Mexico on July 2 for the right to challenge Japanese champion Toshiaki Nishioka.
The big opportunity was presented to Vetyeka by virtue of his second spot in the WBC ratings while Caro occupies top position.
His promoter Golden Gloves Promotion (GGP) Rodney Berman initially planned a training camp for Vetyeka in Houston, US for ten days but the arrangements were shelved when the fighter encountered visa problems.
“It meant Vetyeka should secure an American visa even though he would not be fighting in America but in Mexico so we decided to shelve the idea,” Berman said.
However GGP is still working feverishly behind the scenes for Vetyeka to encounter as minimum a problem in his trip to Mexico, scheduled for next Wednesday although the promoter of the fight has not yet sent relevant documentation to GGP as yet.
Asked why he agreed to send Vetyeka to Mexico instead of trying to bring the fight to South Africa, Berman said he is convinced Vetyeka would have no problem beating the Mexican after watching Caro’s video footage.
“Vetyeka stands to earn a good purse there and the risks are minimal considering that Caro is not such a formidable fighter,” he said.
The 27-year-old Mexican has lost eight times and drawn four of his 34 bouts. However he appears to be a devastating puncher, having floored 17 of his 22 victims although the level of his opposition is relatively weak.
Every time he faced a credible opponent, Caro came unstuck also proving a bit chinny having kissed the canvas four times of his eight defeats.
“Vetyeka should not have a problem beating this guy if their talent is anything to go by,” Berman added.
While the victory is not a foregone conclusion for Vetyeka with nothing guaranteed in Mexico as his stablemate Tshifhiwa Munyai would remind him, the 30-year-old skillful fighter can brace himself for another bite at the WBC cake which he tasted way back in 2007 when he went down to another Japanese fighter Hozumi Hasegawa in a bantamweight title challenge.
His points defeat by Hasegawa remains the only blemish of his 23 bouts with 13 stoppages.
However Munyai also appeared to have won the WBC bantamweight silver belt against Mexican Christian Esquivel last August in Mexico City only to be declared a loser by the judges, prompting WBC president Jose Sulaiman to order a rematch.
The rematch never took place as Munyai opted to fight for the IBO junior featherweight title which he won by beating Filipino Danilo Pena this past March.