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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter

WORLD Boxing Federation (WBF) All-Africa heavyweight champion Elvis Moyo’s European break is beckoning, with the South African based Zimbabwean pugilist receiving challenge from Arnold Gjergjaj of Switzerland.

The Zimbabwean boxer who moved into the top 100 of the world rankings following last month’s win over South Africa’s heavyweight champion Ruann Visser in Pretoria, is set to trade leather with Gjergjaj on May 25 in Bern, Switzerland.

Moyo moved 42 places up the rankings following his unanimous judges’ win over Visser and now sits on position 70 with 19 points, while his 34-year-old challenger Gjergjaj is ranked 58th with 22 points.

The Bulawayo Bomber, as Moyo is affectionately known, agreed to the fight on Wednesday and expects to sign the contract soon.

“My win over Visser has opened opportunities as it pushed me into the top 100. Remember I spent 10 months without boxing and my rankings dropped. Now I’ve received an offer to fight in Switzerland. I took my time to decide and after watching videos of Gjergaj, I thought of giving it a go. I accepted the offer on Wednesday and they should be sending the contract anytime,” said Moyo.

The former Tshaka Youth Centre boxer who is nursing a hand injury that needs R30,000 for an operation, is not letting the opportunity to fight in Europe pass by and is confident of flooring Gjergjaj.

“I’m targeting to be in the top 20 so that I get more chances of fighting regularly for better purses. I had an offer to fight Vladyslav Sirenko on April 27 in 10 rounds for a German EU title but I felt it was early considering that I was coming from a fight,” he said.

The pugilist sustained the hand injury when he successfully defended his World Boxing Federation All-Africa heavyweight title against Kilola Lubika Didier of Congo last year in January.

He went on to beat Ukrainian boxer Pedyura Maksym in April still carrying the injury as well as Visser last month.

Gjergjaj has 32 career wins and two losses against British legend David Haye and Sean Turner. — @ZililoR