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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S top heavyweight boxer Elvis Moyo returns to the boxing ring next month to trade leather with South African Ruan Visser in a 10-round non-title fight at Pretoria’s Sun Arena.

The bout, which is being promoted by 5th Element Promotions and dubbed “Battle of the Warriors”, will be held on February 10.

Moyo, whose stage name is Bulawayo Bomber, is at risk of being stripped of his World Boxing Federation All-Africa heavyweight title for failing to get opponents to defend the crown he won on August 25, 2017, by beating Ghanaian pugilist Bernard Adie.

Since his fight with Adie, Moyo only defended the title against Congolese Knife Didier at the City Sports Centre in Harare in January 2018, with his last fight coming in April of the same year when he beat Ukrainian Pedyura Maksym.

The Bulawayo Bomber’s scheduled November 2018 bill against Alick Godogo was cancelled and he is happy to face Visser in a bout he believes will open up more avenues for him.

“I’m happy because I’ve managed to get a fight after a long time. It was supposed to be a title fight, but the promoters ended up changing it to a 10-round non-title bout. What I’m happy about is that should I win this match, I’ll be able to improve my rankings, which had drastically dropped due to inactivity,” said Moyo.

The South Africa-based pugilist says he is in good shape for the fight and is aiming to knock out Visser.

“The guy has what we call a heavyweight boxer chance and I think that’s why they didn’t want to gamble with a title fight because he is good at his level, but is not certain to win against me. I’m aiming for a knockout. I started training early and I’m doing eight-round sparring sessions. By the time I go for the fight, I’ll be super fit,” said Moyo. — @ZililoR