By Gordon Prentice
For five years, it was a "phantom fight" - now it's a reality. Former International Boxing Federation junior-featherweight champion, Vuyani Bungu, will trade leather with the awesome "Prince" Naseem Hamed at London's Wembley Stadium on March 11.
Rodney Berman, Bungu's promoter, said: "I am over the moon. I have been trying to land this fight for five years and finally we have the papers signed and sealed. And, what's more, if Vuyani wins the title he will defend it against Hamed in a rematch in South Africa."
That will be a tall order for the Mdantsane-raised boxer, who defended his junior-featherweight title a record 13 times before relinquishing the crown.
For starters, Bungu has not fought for nearly a year and secondly, Hamed is the hardest-hitting fighter in the featherweight division. For Bungu to win the fight, he is going to have to box cleverly, ensure his defence - normally his strong point - is water-tight and not try to get smart with the Yemeni-born Yorkshireman.
Bungu will reputedly earn a purse of R2,5-million from his date with Hamed and if he can capture the World Boxing Organisation's featherweight title, he can look forward to more million-rand paydays.
"This is the biggest fight in the history of South African boxing. Bigger than the Gerrie Coetzee-Michael Dokes bout when they fought for the heavyweight championship of the world - bigger than anything.
"To have landed the Makepula-Matlala fight at Carnival City on February 19 and then the Bungu/Hamed fight within three weeks of each other is just amazing," gushed Berman.
But the chief executive of Golden Gloves wrote off any chance Corrie Sanders, the World Boxing Union heavyweight champion, had of fighting Mike Tyson.
"The heavyweight division is running scared of Corrie. If Corrie had to face Tyson now, he would lick him. That fight just won't happen - even Lennox Lewis is running from Corrie," Berman concluded. - Daily News