By Mark Ellis and Michael Ashcraft, Special to ASSIST News Service
SANTA MONICA, California (ANS -- April 3, 2015) -- He wasn’t supposed to get anywhere near a boxing ring. Because doctors operated on his kidney at 3-months-old, Chris Van Heerden was strictly forbidden from contact sports.
But his dad was a boxer and believed God would heal his son. It seemed natural for his father to train him in the sport of gloves. So today, Van Heerden, 27, is the current holder of the IBF International welterweight Title. He won on points the previously undefeated Cecil McCalla at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 9, 2015.
I’m blessed by Jesus Christ,” the native South African says. “Win or lose, I’m blessed.”He may call himself blessed when he loses, but he sure has won a lot. Starting on his native continent, he now holds a record 22-1 (and one draw) including three fights since he’s come to the U.S. His only loss was in Serbia. Eleven of his wins were by knockout.
When he was growing up in Johannesburg, his dad never told him the negative prognosis from the doctors. He found out many years later. He bears a scar over his left kidney that is still visible.
“My dad simply said, ‘Ain’t no doctor gonna tell me what my kid can and cannot do.’ He just believed: ‘In Jesus’ name, my son will be okay,’” Van Heerden recalls. “I’m glad he did that. I’m glad he prayed and believed for me to have a normal childhood. I played rugby and boxing. I was a fit kid.”
Since his father was a respected heavyweight fighter in South Africa in the 1980s, it was easy for Chris to catch the dream. When he turned 18, his dad gave him two options: “I’ll pay for you to study at the university and be an accountant, or I’ll support you to get started in a boxing career – but not both,” Van Heerden says. He chose boxing.
But the dream was doomed immediately. At 18, he failed the physical fitness test to obtain his boxing license in South Africa. Then the doctor diagnosed diabetes.
The heartbreak drove him to prayer – for the first time in his life.
“I found myself on my knees. I’d never done that before. As a kid you just go to church every Sunday, and you’re back in school on Monday, and you forget about it,” he says. “I prayed. I made a promise to God that I would tell people about this, that I would give the glory to God, if He would heal me.”
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Photo caption: Chris Van Heerden in action
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