Boxing News and Views had a chance to speak with Irish based boxing manager Gary Hyde this past weekend. Hyde manages the career of WBA no.4 ranked South African featherweight contender Simpiwe Vetyeka.
Cork man Hyde is a busy operator these days, also managing the careers of four other professional fighters including Mohammed Rabii, Youri Kalenga, Levan Ghvamichava and Gevorg Khatchikian.
Following the recent high profile Leo Santa Cruz and Carl Frampton rematch, I wanted to get his opinion on his WBA ranked no.4 South African featherweight and former world champion Simpiwe Vetyeka (29-3-17KO) in particular.
Starting off the conversation, Gary told me he signed Vetyeka in the summer of 2016 and not long after was very close to landing him a world title shot against a certain WBO champion:
“We were close to the (Oscar) Valdes fight.”
On specifically fighting the likes of Mexican three-weight world champion Leo Santa Cruz or Belfast’s two-weight world champion Carl Frampton, Hyde enthused:
“He’s in the top five in WBA now (number 4). He’s in great form. He’s a fantastic talent and we’d be happy with any of the two of them (Frampton or Santa Cruz). No problem whatsoever.”
He also added that Simpiwe is more than willing to take on some of the division’s other top talents and has made offers to their respective promoters for a fight in 2017:
“By the summer we would fight Frampton up in Belfast, or even Scott Quigg. I’ve made offer to Eddie Hearn for Quigg and also an offer To (Frank) Warren for a fight with Josh Warrington.”
Simpiwe Vetyeka next fights later this month in Morocco against big hitting, undefeated Hungarian David Berna (8-0-8KO) on February 18th.
The bout will take place at the Complexe Sportif Mohammed V in Casablanca, Morocco.
Top image source and credit: Dispatchlive.co.za
