Jarred Silverman is not bothered by the weight advantage Nika Bigvava will enjoy when they meet for his WBF International super middleweight belt in Georgia on Sunday.
Instead, Silverman is grateful for the opportunity to win a boxing belt.
That is something the charismatic 34-year-old fighter, known as “Mr Hollywood”, has not been able to accomplish since he fought his first professional boxing match in May 2010.
The limit of the junior-middleweight division is 69.85kg and that of the super middleweight class is 72.58kg.
That means 24-year-old Bigvava from Anaklia in Georgia will enjoy almost 4kg.
Cape Town-based WBF president Howard Goldberg, who will be the fight supervisor, explained: “The agreement in their contract says [they] can’t weigh more than 74kg.”
Silverman, who will jump two weight divisions to be involved in his first boxing match of that magnitude, said: “It’s the size of the heart that matters most for me. That is how much I want that belt.”
He will be involved in his second comeback fight after a seven-year hiatus.
Ushered to war by successful veteran trainer Vusi Mtolo, Silverman stopped William Bankisi in the fifth round in Kagiso in September.
He said Mtolo won’t travel to Georgia due to his son’s marriage this weekend.
The boxer will travel with Richard Fernandes, the son of top boxing tutor Manny Fernandes. They jet out to Georgia tonight.
Silverman has 11 wins, six by knockouts, while Bigvava has an uninspiring fight record, which reads seven wins and seven losses.
“I’m going there for a brutal, no-holds-barred physical fight,” warned Silverman, who began his boxing career with respected trainer Nick “Mthakathi” Durandt.
Sowetan
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