The odds will be stacked against South Africa’s Chris van Heerden when he challenges England’s Conor Benn for the WBA Continental welterweight title on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
The 32-year-old Van Heerden 28-2-1; 12 has been fighting out of the USA for the last eight years.
He has only had three fights since April 2018, a six-round technical decision win over Mahondri Montes, an eight-round points win against Aslanbek Kozaev and a one-round no-decision against Jaron Ennis, when he suffered a bad cut over the eye. This is only 15 rounds of boxing in four years.
Benn, 25, made his pro debut in April 2016 after a short amateur career and since winning the WBA Continental welterweight title in July 2018 he has made six successful defences.
He is rated at No 5 by all the major organisations. Van Heerden is not listed at all.
In 2021 he won on a first-round stoppage against the experienced Columbian Canadian Samuel Vargas 31-6-2 and scored victories over Adrian Granados and Chris Algieri.
Even though Van Heerden is the more experienced fighter Benn is the clear favourite and could possibly win inside the distance.
On the same card Alycia Baumgardner and Edith Soledad Matthysse meet in a clash for the woman’s WBC junior lightweight belt.