JOHANNESBURG - Ryno Liebenberg's wife, Chantelle, sat in the back row seats of a press conference held at Emperors Palace this week as she listened to her husband talk about how he was going to knock his opponent silly in a rematch against Enrico Koelling on Saturday night in Kempton Park.
That bold talk brought a smile to her face. Liebenberg lost to the German boxer in October last year by a controversial split decision in which Chantelle felt he was hard done-by.
Chantelle had watched that fight on television and she couldn’t believe what she saw. ‘The Lion,’ as Liebenberg is affectionately known, has since been struggling to come to terms with that controversial defeat.
The South African light-heavyweight champion has watched a recording of that fight countless times trying to figure out how the judges could have not given him victory.
“In that fight,” Liebenberg said, “I threw in 1 181 punches and he threw in 309. And I lost. How is that even possible? I landed more punches than he threw in that entire bout. He didn’t even average 32 punches per round. I averaged a hundred. And I walk away a loser?”
Liebenberg says he will not leave it to the judges to decide who will be the winner at the end of their fight on Saturday night.
In fact, Liebenberg said he is aiming produce a knockout to avoid any possible heartbreak, following what happened in Neubrandenburg a few months ago.
“Tomorrow, it’s a knockout,” Liebenberg said. “I’m going to knock his head off. I’m not taking any chances (this time around).”
Meanwhile, Hekkie Budler will take on Joey Canoy in pursuit of securing his fourth world title, as the two will be battling it out for the vacant IBO junior Flyweight title.
Kevin Lerena is expected to lock horns with Namibian-born boxer Vikapita Meroro in a 10-round Cruiserweight bout. Lerena admitted that he was expecting a tough fight from the Namibian boxer.