An Aberdeen professional boxer has lifted the lid on his twice-weekly sessions with Dons defender Slobodan Rubezic and the centre-back’s untapped ring “talent”.
Undefeated Granite City lightweight Gregor McPherson, 20, has been giving boxing coaching to Montenegro international centre-half Rubezic, 24, at his Bodbox fight gym in Bridge of Don.
Footage of the duo’s pad work was recently widely shared on social media – with Dons fans joking the imposing stopper was preparing himself for the upcoming Premiership clash with rivals Rangers at Pittodrie.
In McPherson’s expert opinion, 6ft 4in “big lad” Rubezic “can fairly bang” when it comes to pulling on the gloves and throwing a punch.
On Rubezic’s quick progression since starting boxing sessions, McPherson added: “I think he did a little bit when he was younger, not a lot – but he’s got a bit of talent!
“When you take him on the pads, he’s got a bit of skill.
“He’s got the technique, good footwork and the way he punches is good.
“He likes the boxing training – the discipline of it.
“Obviously because he’s a professional footballer he’ll be getting his cardio and everything from training at Cormack Park, so when he comes in we do a lot of pads and more technical stuff.
“We’ve been teaching him to hit the speedball, and he’s actually got quite quick.
“There’s heaps of different things in our gym. The floor-to-ceiling ball is quite a hard one to crack and he’s still trying to nail that one.”
A summer 2023 signing from Serbian outfit Novi Pazar, imposing centre-half Rubezic has bounced back from a knee injury last season to become a key cog in new Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin’s flawless start in the Dons dugout this term.
Despite helping the resolute Reds backline record seven clean sheets from their 11 victories so far, Rubezic has continued to “put a shift in” with McPherson around matches.
A former Dons youth academy prospect before he committed to the fight game, McPherson knows how boxing training can boost football performance and admires Rubezic’s commitment to “better himself” in his spare time.
He revealed Rubezic also plans to take Aberdeen team-mates Dante Polvara and Duk in for an introductory boxing session with McPherson on Wednesday this week.
‘There’s not an ounce of fat on him’
The fighter said: “He’s super-fit and he’s in amazing condition – there’s not an ounce of fat on him.
“He’s just a really hard-working guy, who’ll come in after the football training and put a shift in.
“If it’s before a game, he’ll take it easy. But if it’s after a game, he’ll still put a shift in.
“He’s doing things around his training to better himself – and it seems to be working on the pitch.
“The fitness you can get from boxing is like no other, so taking that on to a football pitch, and the strength, using your bodyweight, stuff like that, it all helps.”
McPherson revealed he struck a friendship with “Ruby” through mutual pal Robbie Wildgoose, saying: “He put me on to Ruby and we just started speaking and he was replying to my Instagram stories of me fighting.
“He said to me one day: ‘Have you got a stream for your fight, because I want to support?’.
“I didn’t have for that one, which was probably two fights ago, but I just got on to the conversation of ‘you should come along to the boxing, you’d enjoy it’.
“And he said: ‘Yeah I’ll give it go’.
“Ever since then he’s been coming in once, sometimes twice a week, just after his training or after a game.”
McPherson is now in training camp ahead of a planned fight in Aberdeen in November, where he will make his comeback following surgery to repair a second collapsed lung suffered in a year.
Following the injury disruption, McPherson will be bidding to extend his pro record to seven wins from seven outings.
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