Johannesburg – Boxing trainer Nick Durandt has hit out at WBF junior-lightweight champion Malcolm Klassen, saying the fighter was impatient in his demand for more bouts.
Klassen stands alone as he prepares to take on veteran, six-times former international title-holder Cassius “The Hitman” Baloyi at the Nasrec Arena in Johannesburg on Sunday.
The highly-talented, but enigmatic 30-year-old Klassen, a two-time former IBF champion, has been inacative since gaining the vacant WBF title with Durandt in his corner during an impressive victory over Daniel Lomeli at Montecasino last November.
Durandt, however, confirmed this week he had parted ways with Klassen, who has remarkably made only a solitary appearance in the ring in amost three years.
“Malcolm complained he was getting no action after his win over Lomeli and blamed me for the impasse,” Durandt said.
“But I'm a trainer, not a promoter, and the main problem is that no one is offering decent money to boxers in this country in the present climate.
“I got him the fight for the WBF title that put him back on the map when everyone was saying his career was over.”
Durandt said Klassen had been involved in a series of contractual disputes that kept him in limbo.
“I'm the guy that always got the best out of him and if he had kept training with me the way he should, the bigger fights and purses would have materialised.”
Sunday's fight is a potentially critical stepping stone for both fighters, with the 37-year-old Baloyi, in particular, needing to prove to the sceptics that his best days are not over.
“The purse money is not very good for a boxer of The Hitman's stature,” said Baloyi's trainer, Keith Rass.
“But he has something to prove in avenging the only stoppage defeat he suffered in his career against Klassen in their previous fight three years ago.”
If Klassen avoids signs of ring rustiness and repeats the scintillating form he displayed against Lomeli, he will start a firm favourite to repeat the win over Baloyi that earned him the IBF title – and belatedly put his career back on track.
On this occasion, however, the title Klassen holds from the lesser recognised WBF organisation will not be on the line. – Sapa