Nick Peet: Makabu – Mchunu II

Nick Peet: Makabu – Mchunu II

Repeat or revenge as 'Junior' taken on 'The Rock' for the WBC cruiserweight crown and a shot at undisputed

NOTORIOUS promoter Don King will celebrate 50 years in boxing when he stages the WBC world cruiserweight title fight in his home state of Ohio this Saturday.

The controversial 80-year-old, who played an instrumental role in many of the greatest careers and biggest fights of the last half century, presents Junior Makabu’s latest world title defence against Thabiso Mchunu.

The card also includes a heavyweight title fight between unbeaten Trevor Bryan and Jonathan Guidry. Yet, despite a tidal wave of King-spin, that inconsequential matchup isn’t worthy of any column inches.

However, WBC cruiser king Makabu’s rematch with Mchunu could have serious implications for the 200lb weight class. The greedy governing body have already given their blessing to Canelo Alvarez moving up to cruiser to challenge Makabu this year, something you can be sure King will jump all over in the early hours on Sunday.

But a successful defence may also, and perhaps more likely, open up unification opportunities for the UK’s Lawrence Okolie, who defends his WBO version of the world title next month.

That puts the former Team GB Rio Olympian, who is desperate to unify at 200lb before moving to heavyweight, on a similar fight camp cycle to Makabu as we head into 2022. And the African champion is no stranger to UK shores.

Makabu, now 34, was in the opposing corner the night Tony Bellew realised his boxing ambitions at Goodison Park. After dropping ‘The Bomber’ in the opening round, Makabu got caught and finished by Bellew in round three, suffering only the second loss of his 28-2 career.

Later that same year, 2016, Mchunu, 33, was stopped in nine rounds by Oleksandr Usyk in the Ukrainian’s first world title defence before he unified the division then moved up to become heavyweight champion. So, both have mixed in stellar company.

It is the second loss of Mchunu’s 23-5 career, however, that’s the most noteworthy. Their first fight in Durban, South Africa in 2015 set them both on course for world title opportunities in the ensuing year. But it was Makabu who forced a late stoppage.

Although, by the time the referee jumped in to halt the action in the 11^th round, two of the three scoring judges had Mchunu ahead, with the other recording it as a draw.

That should give the challenger real motivation in the rematch. Mchunu has also had great preparation, earning his second world title chance on the back of two solid performances over in Russia against solid names. But Makabu has power that must be respected.

Not only are his 25 knockouts in 28 wins impressive, but he’s locked and loaded from the first bell until the last; his power doesn’t diminish. And that’s the crucial factor. Mchunu will need to be punch perfect for 12 rounds. Makabu only needs to land clean once.

And with even just talk of potential multi-million dollar-delivering Canelo matchup on the horizon, Makabu won’t require any further motivation to keep focused.

TIP: Makabu by TKO 7–9 (23/4)

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