Johannesburg (South Africa) – EFC AFRICA 15 features a vitally important bout for Africa’s welterweight division – Martin ‘The Punisher’ van Staden vs Dino ‘The Lion’ Bagattin. Both are top 5 welterweights eager to improve their standings on the way to a title shot. Fans have been requesting the clash for months and in just a few short weeks speculation on who is the better fighter will come to an end.

According to van Staden, victory will be his because Bagattin just doesn’t have the power to stop him.
“Dino’s boxing doesn’t worry me one bit,” says van Staden. “He might be technical but all he’s really got is movement. The only way I can see this fight going is him running away, me chasing him down to hit him, and him hoping to counterpunch. Dino just doesn’t have KO power, and what he does have won’t be enough. I haven’t felt this good for a fight in a long time. I’m bigger, stronger and faster than I was for my last bout. My skill level has gone up considerably and I’m looking to dominate from the word go. I just want to get in there and bang, so my plan is to be more aggressive and intense but also technical, to really show my skills. Right now there’s a lot of testosterone in the gym at FFM. We’ve got so many guys on this card so training is in full swing. Competitiveness has escalated like never before but I guess it’s all in the name of team spirit, and competitive training is good training.”

Van Staden hopes to use the bout with Bagattin to bounce back from his EFC AFRICA 13 loss against Michiel Opperman. With an extended training camp, van Staden is confident that he will be at his best. “For Michiel I had three weeks to prepare and I was ready, but not exactly where I should have been. I’m not making any excuses though, I made a mistake and Michiel used it to win the fight. I was really upset about making such a stupid mistake and I consider that loss to be one of my worst. When Michiel caught me in the guillotine for the third time I’d already slammed my way out of two and I just couldn’t adjust to slam my way out again. That loss taught me a big lesson: Just because you’ve done something successfully once or even twice, don’t think things will go the same way every time! But at least I was able to show that Michiel didn’t want to strike with me! As soon as I threw a right hand he wanted to clinch.”

EFC AFRICA 15, presented by MusclePharm, takes place at the Carnival City Big Top Arena on 27 July. Tickets on sale at Computicket www.computicket.com and tickets for the live broadcast to Nu Metro Cinemas available at www.numetro.co.za. The three main card bouts will be broadcast live across Africa on e.tv, starting at 22h30 CAT. Full event streamed live online.