Christopher van Heerden vs. Aslanbek Radikovich Kozaev

In the co-main event of Top Rank's card on ESPN+ this Saturday (headlined by Emanuel "Vaquero [The Cowboy]" Navarrete Martínez's second defense of the WBO super bantamweight title, against Francisco "El Centenario [The Centurion] De Vaca). Battle of the hirsute, huskily-built feather fisted early thirty-something welterweight white boys.

CVH is riding a four win streak against respectable top 40 types, but that is the full extent of his activity dating back just shy of as many years. Kozaev is also unbeaten since 2015 but has squeezed in 7 appearances in the meantime (although generally with poorer opposition than van Heerden's, aside from Rénald Garrido).

It should be a fun tactical match, though likely not an explosive war... however, I can't rule out the possibility of some clinching, given their styles and the added wrinkle of the customary southpaw vs. orthodox dynamic, which is going to be like two Brillo pads rubbing together. Somebody's (perhaps multiple parties are) going home with chafed nipples.

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My head says:
[insert that apparently now impossible to find GIF or short video clip of GGG saying "for me is 50-50"...]

...but my heart is going with CVH, for a plethora of reasons.

 

Winner gets Levan Ghvamichava (so long as there's a fire extinguisher at ringside)

 

Ten, yeah. Neither has any hardware or the ranking to make it an elim.

 

Oh hell yeah. IMO he was just plain unlucky to not have as good a career as or better than countryman Hekkie Budler. I don't think he's any worse p4p.

 

Budler and Kevin Lerena (the other two internationally successful white dudes from SA, both of whom seem to have received a lot more hype and help than CVH) both hail from Johannesburg as well, just like him, so it can't even be chalked up to him not being in "the right place". ¯\_(ツ)_/¯