Roarke Knapp is at full health and set to resume his rise through the ranks.
The once-beaten junior middleweight prospect will face Jorge Garcia Perez on June 15. Their scheduled 12-round bout will headline a Golden Gloves-promoted event at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa.
It will mark the first ring appearance for Knapp (17-1-1, 12 knockouts) since last September. The 26-year-old Johannesburg native was due to face Josh Kelly on December 16. However, a hand injury forced him to withdraw. derail the fight. Now the healthy South African will return at a familiar venue against the Mexican import.
Knapp (17-1-1, 12 knockouts) won nine of his first ten pro outings. The lone blemish was a draw before he lost his unbeaten record via seventh-round knockout to Brandon Thysse after dominating early. The 26-year-old has since won eight in a row. Included in that batch is a June 2022 decision victory over Thysse to avenge his lone career defeat.
In his most recent start, Knapp stopped Poland’s Przemyslaw Zysk in the fifth round last September 2 at Emperor’s Palace. The win was his first inside the distance since August 2021.
Garcia (29-4, 24 KOs) has been a professional for a decade and won his first 14 fights before dropping a decision to veteran journeyman Josue Obando. The 27-year-old Los Mochis, Mexico native won his next three before he suffered two defeats in a three-fight span. The latter of the two was an August 2020 unanimous decision to countryman and two-time title challenger Carlos Ocampo in Mexico City.
The 27-year-old from Los Mochis has since won eleven of his past twelve starts, including four in a row headed into this fight.
Also on the show, Knapp’s stablemate Shervantaigh Koopman will battle Wendy Toussaint in a junior middleweight contest.
Koopman (13-0, 9 KOs) made his debut in 2018 and claimed the national title in his eighth fight. The 29-year-old has since beaten Thysse and teak-tough Cristiano Ndombassy.
Toussaint (15-2, 7 KOs) moved from Haiti to New York and made his bones on the local scene before getting beaten by 2016 Olympian Charles Conwell (KO 9) on ShoBox. The 31-year-old won two fights before he dropped a technical decision to Ardreal Holmes Jr. last June in Detroit. He rebounded with a win last October 28 in his adopted hometown of Huntington, New York.
Rising strawweight Beaven Sibanda will take on the vastly more experienced Siphamandla Baleni in preliminary action.
Sibanda (6-0, 2 KOs) turned pro in his native Zimbabwe in 2022 and quickly caught the eye of Golden Gloves. Since then, the 22-year-old has become a regular at this venue. He outpointed Mthokozisi Ngxaka over six rounds on the same September 2 show that saw Knapp and Koopman post wins.
Baleni (21-6-2, 8 KOs) has faced many of his country’s top strawweight since his 2011 pro debut. The 33-year-old has never been stopped in 29 pro bouts and has previously claimed the national strawweight title. He comes off a lopsided defeat to 2016 Olympic Gold medalist Hasanboy Dusmatov on November 6 in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia.
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